Cheap Re-Volt (Video Games) (Windows 98, Windows 95, Windows Me) Price

Here's what happens if you take your inner minicar's advice: You'll spend your first race laughing hysterically, spinning out of control to smash into curbs, the tires of parked cars, and other relatively gigantic hazards of the suburban streets. By your second race, you'll be conscious that part of your problem is that the cars competing with you are forcing you into oil slicks and blasting you thigh-high with rockets they're grabbing from the pick-up icons scattered around the track. When you've got a grip on what you're in for, you'll go back to the selection of eight cars available to rookie drivers and choose one whose acceleration, top speed, and weight seem to suit your driving style.

Wait a minute--weight? Yup, in just one example of how Re-Volt lovingly models tiny-car physics, weight plays a huge role in how your car jumps, how likely it is to land on all four of its tires instead of its hood when it gets flipped, how it fares in collisions, and how much traction it gets in gravel or sand.

You'll be lucky if sand and gravel are the worst things you have sprayed in your face. The tracks loop through many splendidly rendered environments, including burb-land streets, a supermarket, a toy store, a ghost town, and a natural-history museum. You'll never get a chance to enjoy the scenery during a race, so you've got two options. If you're alone, choose the replay feature after your race and enjoy different angles on the action every time. If you've got company, let a friend play, and ogle the beautiful 3-D scenery over their shoulder.

If your friends are like ours, they'll thank you by buying their own copy so that they can play against you online! And speaking of online access, make sure to visit www.revolt.com and download Acclaim's patch for the game. Without the patch, several tracks won't work right. With the patch, all will be well.

So go ahead--listen to your inner mini-muscle car! When someone manufactures a game with a charming premise, scintillating graphics, and game play that's this much fun, you start wondering why so many other games settle for so much less. --Rob Heinsoo

Pros:

• Fun, fun, fun
• Slick graphics
• Devoted online following

• Patch required to access all the tracks properly
• Clunky option and setup menus