OH dear, there are a lot of South Park fans out there, but I'm afraid those who own PlayStations might not be too impressed with the crazy gang's latest outing on the little grey wonder box.

South Park Rally doesn't so much come screeching onto the gaming scene as splutter into view.

It's the second South Park game this year and, once again, features all your favourite characters in a Mario Kart-style presentation but, unfortunately, it lacks the fun, skill and excitement of that original game.

All the characters look as good as ever but the gameplay is a little slow and, at times, confusing.

My lad, a troublesome 12-year-old, complained that there were no set race tracks as such. Instead, you have to get through numbered checkpoints which appear here, there and everywhere.

OK, this introduces some variation but detracts from the actual racing element and so spoils the fun.

Graphically, the game looks cute with loads of dodgem-style vehicles, Cartman on his police tricycle and Chef in his station wagon, and there are secret characters and shortcuts to be found for those who have the patience to stick with the game.

JE

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.