Shit Game Time: Power Drift (Amiga)

[ZEUSDAZ]

Hi all, It's Friday again which means a new edition of Shit Game Time and this time I have been asked to play and shit-rate Power Drift on the Amiga.
One ugly choppy moving pile of messy poo.



This is a paid request by youtuber "Ray C", I hope you enjoy it,...or not, I don't really care



POWER DRIFT (AMGA) SGT Review: [ Show youtube player ]

[zipper]

Yes, a mess. With help of little acceleration it was a tad better - not difficult to master.

[saimon69]

Casually there is in this same forum the following thread (by me) looking for a solution or a remake...


[Brainstorming] Power Drift and pseudo 3D circuit games

[Predseda]

And it was SO GOOD for C64! I liked it much more than arcade original.

[stevsurv]

Oh my goodness.. Just played it and the gameplay IS really bad. Graphically looks good but the rest is definately crap!

The cracked (or crapped), Defjam version is the only trained version but it still doesn't make the gameplay enjoyable at all.

[rothers]

I checked out the C64 version and wow - it's far far better.

I do appreciate what the Amiga programmer tried to do, it's a full 3D engine using sprites, the Amiga just didn't have the power to do it (at least with the knowledge at the time).

Assuming it's got it's timings coded correctly I'd imagine it looks good on an 030.

[Torti-the-Smurf]

Power Drift on the Amiga

That should be interesting

Thanks Zeus; i will watch it right NOW !

[gimbal]

Yeah not much to say about this one, we already have a thread dedicated to taking it apart and not putting it back together again I'm so glad I never got this one back in the day, I already had Turbo Outrun for my choppy needs.

[DanScott]

Considering what it's actually trying to achieve, it's actually NOT too bad... just that the Amiga definitely couldn't handle the amount of stuff it's trying to throw around. I'd hazard a guess that it's an ST conversion? so perhaps it could have been faster if using the blitter... (I've not looked into it, so maybe it does/doesn't)

[lesta_smsc]

The concept was nice but it was trying far too hard for the sprites. Super Hang On, Lotus and Chase HQ did well for a similar theme but for some reason this just caused huge slow down which may be the reason it plays so badly. Anyone tried this on accelerator to see how well it speeds up!?

[saimon69]

I did in a simulated 1200: performance is better however handling is not good and the main sprite is too big

[saimon69]

Originally Posted by lesta_smsc

The concept was nice but it was trying far too hard for the sprites. Super Hang On, Lotus and Chase HQ did well for a similar theme but for some reason this just caused huge slow down which may be the reason it plays so badly. Anyone tried this on accelerator to see how well it speeds up!?

Forgot to add this video test i made of a1200 settings - HAD to replace the music with one of my mods, also because was testing for a possible improvement

[ Show youtube player ]

[rothers]

It's quite an impressive engine really, this could have been a great game with more work.

[saimon69]

Originally Posted by DanScott

Considering what it's actually trying to achieve, it's actually NOT too bad... just that the Amiga definitely couldn't handle the amount of stuff it's trying to throw around. I'd hazard a guess that it's an ST conversion? so perhaps it could have been faster if using the blitter... (I've not looked into it, so maybe it does/doesn't)

I invite you in the other thread where i did look for evidences, reverse engineer and engines

[PatmanQC]

I always thought it was decent on the Amiga. By no means arcade perfect but the programmer did a commendable job trying to re-create the arcade experience

[SunSpire]

Ugh, that's a nasty frame rate. Seems unplayable on an unexpanded A500.
The box art image somehow reminds me of Combo racer, although the vehicles are completely different. But maybe that'd be a more fun to play candidate, it has multiplayer and comes with a built-in track editor.

[ Show youtube player ]


World Rally Fever for PCDOS also comes to mind, which really exaggerated on that pseudo 3D'ish look and feel of Power Drift.

[ Show youtube player ]

Hmm, was there ever a conversion of Street Racer for Amiga?

[gimbal]

Originally Posted by SunSpire

Hmm, was there ever a conversion of Street Racer for Amiga?

A1200, yes... They should have called it Ice Racer.

[Bruce Abbott]

Originally Posted by SunSpire

Ugh, that's a nasty frame rate. Seems unplayable on an unexpanded A500.

But actually it is playable. Despite the low frame rate the controls are quite responsive.

My arcade gaming skills are poor, but I managed to reach level 4 after only a few tries. The secret? Calibrate the mouse. In ZEUSDAZ's video you can see him consistently over-steering and then getting upset when he crashed. The other secret? Stay off the edges of the road, then you won't crash as much.

Some other complaints are a bit off-base too. Some graphical 'glitches' are in the original arcade game too, an inherent result of the way the roadway is rendered. The music isn't as good as the original, but it's not bad either. The car sprite is about the same size as the arcade version.

Here's a video comparing the arcade original to various home computers and gaming consoles. From ZX Spectrum to Dreamcast the order of playing matches the quality of the port. The Amiga version looks faster and has much better sound than the Atari ST version, despite both having the same codebase. Only the 'high-end' gaming consoles did a better job.

[ Show youtube player ]

[gimbal]

the only thing that video proves to me is: the Amiga version should have been an improved version of he C64 version rather than a poor arcade port.

If I had a dreamcast I'd definitely have bought this game, motion sickness be damned.