Pie Jackers

"You’re working the late shift and the call comes in for another double cheese, pepperoni, black olives and onion. Grab the stick and hold on tight. The race is on! And the competition is fierce. You race, you chase, you blob other pilots with cheese. You shalom around obstacles while shredding the mighty highway. Watch it! Those Biker Pigs will splatter you with slop! Whatever it takes, whatever you’ve got, deliver it hot and the competition is not!! Take along Nikki, Flaco, Dozer or Quiverlly to ride shot-gun. These co-pilots will show you the ropes, but don’t depend on them to show you the way. You’ll want to win a franchise in each of seven territories. Rack up some earnings, buy some special equipment… and –run the other guy out of town. " Unique premise in the official blurb aside, Pie Jackers is a pretty straightforward racing game, disguised as a pizza delivery contest where you and your co-pilot (Nikki the feisty cat, Flaco the cool lizard, Dozer the bull, or Quiverly the geek tapir) tear round one of seven territories trying to collect the relevant toppings and be the first to deliver the right pizza to your hungry customer. Along the way, you'll find the trappings of the traditional racer--power-ups, ammunition and the usual array of obstacles.

Those not acquainted with the head-banging nature of racers will find the absence of a training track a serious omission. If you're expert in racing games, you'll find the predefined nature of the tracks a bit limiting. Identifying different pizza toppings can be tricky too, owing to the game only having murky 256-colour support, but the cartoon characters, voiced by Cheech Marin and Cyndi Lauper among others (missing of course in this CD-rip), are lively companions and there are some nice comic touches.

Once you've mastered the three basic tracks and collected enough tips from satisfied customers, you can buy special vehicles that allow you to race on the other four more inventive territories. The underwater No'land'O is particularly good fun and inventive. Overall though, Pie Jackers isn't challenging enough for real race fans, nor easy enough for newcomers. Recommended only if you are interested in unconventional racing games.

Review By HOTUD