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System:
Arcade
Genre:
Racing
Publisher:
Atari Games
Developer:
Atari Games
Players:
1-2
Release date/year:
1986
Other systems:
GameBoy
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- Championship Sprint
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1986 Atari Games - Atari Games - Arcade
- Atari Games has always come up with mindless games that people can play and get sucked into by sticking more quarters into the machine and jacking into a game that normally wouldn't be worth playing. In this incarnation of Atari racing, you have control of an Indy style racing car that zooms around several different tracks and your goal is to beat out your opponents to the finish line! Again, it's mindlessly simple, and doesn't offer up the different options like its big brother Super Sprint.
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-Game Play 6/10-
Through several different angled tracks, you'll race your small car around in a three lap fuel fest to beat out the computer opposition and advance to the next track. Sounds pretty simple, doesn't it? Well it is! Anyone with Pole Position experience will find this game strangely familiar, but instead of a behind the car view, you have a complete and total overhead view of the action and the entire track is placed before you so you won't be smashing into the walls at high speed and costing yourself time.
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-Control 6/10-
The steering wheel is a great idea, and should be implimented in any good racing game. However, where it does fail with Championship Sprint is that the tight corners take a while to get used to, and the steering isn't always that responsive! There is nothing more aggrivating than dominating the race, and then losing it in the last lap because the steering wheel doesn't turn properly. The acceleration is controlled with a gas pedal located next to your right foot, and although there is no brake, you'll find yourself learning to master the controls the first couple of laps.
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-Audio 6/10-
While it was loud in the arcade, the music that I did hear was pulse pounding, or rather attempting to be that way. At best, it's like most early Atari games in which the music is tinny and doesn't quite match the mood of the race! Sound effects include favorites such as squealing tires, the hum of the car engine, and last but not least, the sound of your car exploding because you smashed into the wall!
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-Visuals 6/10-
You've got a complete overhead view, and you're looking at four cars and several differently designed race tracks that increase in detail as you get further into the game. While this may seem stimulating, the tracks start to look the same after about race seven or so and they begin to loop without much pause! Be aware that there are no special effects, and even the small explosions of the cars running into things gets old after the first couple of times around!
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-Quarter Crunching 8/10-
It's got a high play value simply because it's mindlessly simple to play and you do get drawn into playing against the computer after a couple of times through! Set up several racks of quarters, and you'll find that they'll disappear as you continue to play through. In later levels, the competition becomes so fierce, that you'll be continuing more often than not.
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-Overall 6/10-
Pole Position was the first, and Championship Sprint came next. While it tried to step into the next era of games with the overhead view, and the speed of the cars as well as the variety of tracks, it did a good job preparing everyone for Super Sprint which came a couple of years later. Even though it's not top of the line, it does remind us of what classic racing was, and that Atari did try to step into the future, instead of laying in the past!
//KasketDarfyre
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