Cisco Heat

STORY / GAMEPLAY A charity race is set on the streets of California US! Unfortunately, the Tram Services seem to have total disregard for this race and insist on trying to operate their usual routes. Not only that, but the law-abiding public can be found trundling along the bumpy roads in their sedan cars! Your police car has only two gears: High and Low (can be switched by pulling up or down and pressing fire on your joystick or by hitting spacebar), enabling you to reach speeds of around 200 km/h (170 M/ph). You can start your race by choosing between two police cars, a 70s style bi-colored Ford or a modern 90s Nissan ZX Roadster. During the race, the only weapon you have is your horn! You can honk until cars ahead move out of your way (but this is not quite effective every time). While dodging the trams and the traffic you also have to be ready for 45 degrees slopes and 90 degrees bends (that is why, San Francisco is being chosen). And remember, avoid driving in the middle of the road as much as possible because many road block objects are set on your way (such as construction signs, oil leaks etc). The corners were Cisco Heat's primary claim to arcade fame, an effect that marked it out from the other race-based coin-ops. Well, Cisco Heat has a rather amateurish feel, it is far too short to provide a decent amount of joy and in no way competes with similar racers. But as an original (and quite famous) arcade title, we decided to include this game on our list.

GRAPHICS / SOUND
The DOS version runs in VGA mode and is technically good compared to the arcade in terms but some nice original details are missing (also missing on the Atari ST and Amiga versions). The graphics are colorful but fail to offer a 3D sense of the traffic you overtake (and the surroundings i.e. buildings, trees). Both roads and hills move quite fast and the game feels faster than its counterparts Amiga and ST but the vehicles are poorly animated. The playable area is significantly smaller and is limited inside a border of a static representation of San Francisco! The sound supports Sound Blaster compatible hardware and features a nice introductory theme and a pretty good (though repetitive) in-game tune, including a few sound effects (i.e. police sirens etc).

GAMEPLAY SAMPLE VIDEO
On our video below, you may watch the Atari ST, Amiga and MS DOS versions of the game!