Have You Played... Screamer 2?

Graham’s already written a lovely piece on the first Screamer, but I thought I’d tackle the sequel, aptly named Screamer 2. And what a treat it is.

Much like Graham, my memories of Screamer 2 are buried in a dusty tome in the back of my brain. Shake off the dust and they come flooding back, though. I can clearly recall the white and orange cardboard sleeve it was packaged in, with ‘Sold Out Software’ proudly displayed on the front. I remember booting up the faithful Packard Bell home PC and bunging in the disc. Remember discs?

Those were Telco4U dial-up days, Microsoft Encarta days...

Anyway, sorry, I will get to the point now. This is a bright and colourful arcade racer where drifting around corners at pace is everything. Cocooned by technological limitations, it lacks the weather effects, and all the glitzy tuning options of present racers. Instead, it’s pure, fast-paced fun where sushi roll looking wheels glide across desert sands, or through quaint English villages.

Screamer 2 shines through these adventurous tracks and I feel like a real globetrotter as I stare at my monitor and press arrow keys. The course set in Egypt is a real highlight as you pass by pyramids, twist through canyons and even barrel through the narrow market stalls of a tiny, sun baked town. It isn’t bogged down by realism, it simply wants you to have a good time.

Now I really want to play it again, I just have no idea where the disc is.