Burton's Bytes

Publisher: Codemasters

Formats: PS2, Xbox, PC

Price: £34.99

Family friendly? 12+

GAMERS have been spoilt for choice for arcade racing games the past six months but hard-core simulations seem to have fallen out of favour. Trust Codemasters to redress the balance.

But in the light of fast 'n' furious racers like the Burnout and Need For Speed series, how can a simulation possibly be as much fun?

TOCA sets out as broad a spread of racing cars as it is possible to cram on a DVD. Touring Cars (British, German and Australian), muscle cars, rally cars, Formula One racers, heck you even get the opportunity to get behind the wheel of a 4x4 Monster Truck. If you get bored with one, just try another.

Each race series has its own peculiarities that need to be mastered if you are to do well. In terms of longevity, this is a game that will last even the most seasoned virtual Villeneuves a long, long time.

This incredible roster is backed up with a bewildering array of modes: choose from an ascending number of driving challenges, or a career mode and/or the world tour. The simulation mode enables players to choose a free race, drive against the clock or take on a buddy in a two-player race. The Xbox version has all this plus a system link option and Xbox Live online contests. The PS2 and PC versions also offer online play, although it's a bit flaky in the PS2's case. Whichever console you own, it's pretty much all here.

Each version looks good. Bodywork crumples if you hit another car, sparks fly off tortured metal if you caress the armco barrier and every vehicle is modelled with meticulous attention to detail. Given the huge variety, it's a great achievement.

The replays are terrific as well. You can save your best races, rewind to examine a brave overtaking move, fast forward and even play movie director by switching between camera angles.

New arrivals will probably opt for the world tour - choose two different racing styles and enter a race. If you win, the game opens up more options.

Before each event you can tinker with your tyres, change the aero options for improved downforce, swap out the transmission, tweak the anti-roll bar rates and even switch the ride height. Players who really take things seriously can even walk the course via a virtual tour before each race.

Casual gamers drawn in by the chance to drive so many different styles of car will be relieved to find they don't need to make any mechanical changes - the game will always select a decent "middle of the road" set-up for you.

There's also a virtual coach who will point out where you can pick up precious seconds after each race. Don't ignore him. His words of wisdom really can make a difference between winning and losing.

Your opponents are more than mere computer automatons: if you drive badly and have them off the track, you can expect pay-back in the next race. It pays to keep your nose clean.

This isn't the first time Codemasters has tried to invest a vestige of personality into computer generated opponents (it did it with the previous two TOCA Racer games). However, it is the first time I really noticed a computer driver actually going after my car following an accidental contretemps. As if things weren't hard enough!

At least you can re-start a race if it all goes wrong. Mind you, it takes Herculean willpower not to select "restart" when you've raced well for lap after lap only to spin out making a foolish challenge for first position on the last corner.

So is TOCA a definitive race car alternative to Gran Turismo? Codemasters has been striving to match the breadth of Sony's racing sim for a couple of years and this game comes closest of all.

In some ways, it actually surpasses GT (when, for instance, is Sony going to allow full on body damage in its flagship driving title?).

Anyone who enjoys motor racing - and particularly petrol heads who just can't get enough of a good thing - will find plenty to enjoy behind the wheel of TOCA Race Driver 3.

DEVIL KINGS,

Publisher: Capcom

Format: PS2

Price: £29.99

Family friendly? 12+

DIPLOMACY is a device that's hardly ever used in video games. You certainly won't find any trace of it in Devil Kings.

Six warriors are fighting to rule their land but none can gain a critical advantage. Instead of sitting down and coming to a mutually agreeable arrangement, all six decide the only thing to do is hold a fight to the death. Last man standing gets the lot.

You can choose to play as any one of the six, each with their own unique set of fighting skills and special moves (which must be unlocked) and by completing the main game another half dozen characters then become playable.

Each warrior owns a slice of land and as they defeat opponents, so their kingdom grows. You win the game when you rule the whole map.

Each land has a boss and a number of less powerful enemies. You must make your way through the land, taking on all comers. When an enemy is beaten, they usually drop treasure chests that contain extra weaponry or improved powers.

If this sounds simplistic then I guess you'd be right but Capcom has pulled it off with real style. You never really stop to think "this game is a bit shallow", because you are too busy just concentrating on the next fight. Learning how to fight is quite straightforward. You have one attack button and a special move that's activated via another button on the pad. A rage move is available - when an on-screen "rage gauge" is filled - and that pretty much takes down anything in your way.

Once you have hacked and slashed your way through the contest as one character, others can be chosen and the whole empire building thing starts afresh.

So it's not exactly a game of strategy but as a good, old-fashioned fighting game, Devil Kings sure takes some beating.

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