It’s probably safe to say that when one thinks of car racing games, the image conjurers most likely be the car itself, its engine, the driver/s and probably the track. This was demonstrated extremely well with the mega success of Pole Position in the arcades as it even had a cool driving seat and its own TV show. However, there was a group of chaps that missed out in the entire racing scene – that is the pit crew. Without these fellas, the car will eventually give up. Yet there was a video game developer that didn’t forget these fellas, EPYX, and based the gameplay around this thus titled ‘Pitstop’ – such a fitting word. Pitstop, whilst not technically astute as its competitor, Pole Position, it’s certainly a blast to play however the novelty does wears off rather quickly.
So obviously the aim of the game is to complete the circuit in the best possible time. To start off, you are greeted to a silent intro screen then it’s time to select the number of players (up to four), number of laps (three, six or nine) and finally the level of difficulty (rookie / semi-pro / pro). After that, it’s time to select the type of race whether be single, mini or grand circuit. With the single circuit, you can select one of the six famous tracks – Monaco, Le-Mans, Kyalami, Albi, Jarama and St.Jovite. Note that these are in deliberate order from the easiest track to the hardest. With the mini circuit, the computer randomise three tracks and the grand, you’ll race all six. Then it’s off and racing!
The car is easy the control – forward to speed up / back to slow down (however you cannot halt as the screen just scrolls slower from top to bottom) and left / right to steer your car. At any given time, there will be only two ‘competitors’ on the track and basing on the difficulty level chosen, governs how aggressive they are. And when I mean aggressive, they will ram your car like there’s no tomorrow. If you happen to collide with them, thankfully you don’t explode. All it does is wears your tyres out. This feature I really like as they start off with blue and wind up being red. Only then you are dangerously close to be blown up. So you need to look out for all four tyres and your fuel gauge. Of course, once the fuel runs out, it’s also game over.
Both fuel / tyres don’t play much of a factor when racing three laps as you should knock it off without entering the pit stop (unless you are a really bad driver). However during six and nine laps, you will visit the pit stop at least once. Once there, you get the control four guys – two for the tyres, one for the fuel and one for the flag man. However there’s a graphical glitch here as whatever colours those tyres are before entering the pits, in the pit stop, they are reversed. That is, if you have a red tyre in the front left, in the pit stop, it appears as the front right. It really does affect gameplay however it’s worth noting.
The pits, just like in real life, can make or break you. I had a good friend who was great on the track however hopeless in the pits. I was reasonable on the track however my forte lies in the pits. And because of this, I usually won in the longer races. Considering there are four guys in the pits (one left / right side of the car, fuel guy and the flag bearer) you can only control them one at a time.
To optimise the pits, use the fuel guy first (as filling up can take a little while) then start with the tyres. Yet, do not let the fuel overfill otherwise the fuel will spill out, meaning you need to start over again. You will notice when the fuel has reached close to maximum by the high pitch sound. Of course you can look at the fuel gauge however, by doing so, you’ll lose concentration on the guys chancing the tyres. Yes, every second counts here. Also, whilst on the road, try stay away from the edges as they wear out your tyres a lot quicker than playing bumper cars.
Graphically, it’s very smooth and fast paced – rightfully so for this style of game. However the choice of colours are simply bland – grey road, ugly green grass and the billboard only has the word on it, EPYX. However you can only do so much for a cartridge game due to its limited memory capacity (I think the max is 8kb without any fancy tricks). The sound quality is pretty decent considering as you can hear the car shifting gears (even though you have no control over this) and the ‘Doppler Effect’, i.e. When another car passes by however it’s only noticeable in the pits. Yet it really needs some music, especially during the intro screen to lighten things up a little.
Pitstop from EPYX is your run-of-the- mill software for racing fans. The obvious selling point is the pits however, with clever driving, most of the time you probably visit it maybe one or twice during a single session (or not at all when doing three laps). The game will have more life if there’s more ‘car control’ like changing gears (like in Pole Position) or even have use to the cash winnings (as you got nothing to spend it on). I guess it’s another way of showing the actual score which is neat I guess. The concept of not blowing up upon contact was a good move as it keeps the pace going however, the novelty does wear off rather quickly as you only see the same ole two cars (three including you) over and over and over again when racing.
6 / 10