Screamer 4x4 may well be the slowest racing game ever to drive across a PC screen. It is also quite likely one of the most technical. Unlike fellow off-road affairs such as GodGames' 4x4 Evolution and Codemasters' 1nsane, Screamer 4x4 realistically and convincingly conveys the inherent difficulty posed when a 4x4 vehicle attempts to negotiate primitive, untamed terrain. It is an unforgiving and sometimes treacherously authentic game that minimizes the importance of top speed and accentuates such real world concepts as torque, grip, gravity and four-point suspension. Unfortunately, those who prefer the analog control of a joystick or wheel to the digital control of a keyboard or gamepad may have to jump a few hurdles and endure several painful setup teething pains before they can enjoy Screamer 4x4.

Screamer 4x4's narrow gates are often in the most treacherous locations.

While it may not appeal to fans of high-octane arcade action, those who prefer studied driving and brutally realistic physics will certainly appreciate the intricate, subtle behavioral details that Hungary-based designer Clever's Development has instituted into this game, one of the pleasant racing surprises of 2001. Screamer 4x4 drops you behind the wheel of one of 10 real-world four-wheel drive vehicles and asks you to navigate all by your lonesome over a series of checkpoint-dotted courses distinguished primarily by their wildly rugged topography. However, the key to eventual success isn't necessarily in coaxing the most power from your under-the-hood horses--instead, it is in learning how to keep your jeep or truck moving smoothly in the desired direction and on all four tires. As you'll soon see, that's not an easy task.

The first thing you'll want to do is choose your transportation. The game offers a variety of four-wheel-drive vehicles, including staples from the Jeep Cherokee, Mitsubishi Montero, and Toyota Land Cruiser to the bulky Mercedes Unimog and colossal Hungarian-designed Raba. Most are unfortunately locked away at first, and some--like the ponderous Raba--are surely included only for their entertainment value. Nevertheless, of the two that are initially available, the Jeep CJ7 proves far more nimble than the Land Rover Defender.

You can flatten pedestrians but you'll get disqualified for it.

When you first hit the track, you'll undoubtedly be struck by just how slowly you seem to be moving. This is in stark contrast with many similar games that clearly accentuate the speed of their vehicles to artificially heighten the thrill factor. Another important element is the developer's aversion to flat, even chunks of landscape. Unlike its name would seem to indicate, Screamer 4x4 compels you to spend a good deal of your time either carefully scaling improbably steep inclines or climbing over hazardous rocks. This forces you to judiciously use your transmission by gearing down to some absurdly low gear that simply isn't capable of propelling your vehicle faster than 4 or 5 miles per hour or activating your rock-crawling transfer case when your normal gearing just can't produce enough low-level torque to keep the tires clawing forward. In the case of the latter, forward momentum may at times seem imperceptible. And if the hill finally does win, you'll search about for alternate, more graduated slopes to help make the summit ascent a bit less foreboding.

Driving downhill may be just as difficult. Gravity plays a huge role in Screamer 4x4, pulling you down toward the center of the earth much quicker than you had probably intended. As a result, you may end up missing gates, crashing into gates, or, if the grade is extremely steep and lengthy, gathering unintended momentum and bouncing uncontrollably over maddeningly uneven terrain until you have either spun to a stop in a swirl of dust or have been catapulted end over end and landed on your roof. Yet even if you do pull off such a disastrous stunt, you'll realize your vehicle has just behaved as it would in real life. Many off-road games can reproduce a crash scenario, yet few can do it so believably. Screamer 4x4's suspension modeling is fully reactive at each of the vehicle's four corners, compressing realistically at the appropriate spot when you've landed off-center and bouncing you back and forth and forward and backward when you're traversing a particularly rough section. This is just an example of the game's awesome physics model and one more reason that Screamer 4x4 trucks are so incredibly authentic.