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 Amiga conversion is technically OK compared to the arcade, in terms of graphics and sound, but some unique graphics details are missing (such as the dramatic double-decker bridge section found on the original). The visuals are colorful but fail to offer a 3D feel of the trucks and cars you overtake (plus the surroundings i.e. buildings, trees etc). Both roads and hills move quite fast but the vehicles are poorly animated. The Amiga gameplay area is the largest among its competitors Atari ST and DOS versions, which makes the game more playable. But strangely enough, the game runs a bit slower! The sound features a nice introductory theme, a rather good but repetitive in-game tune and some sampled sounds. NOTE: I expected more from the Amiga version considering its advanced sound capabilities and thus I give it here a 7/10.

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