The sense of speed in Re-Volt is incredible. You can tear along at a couple of hundred "scaled miles per hour", and boy does it feel like it. The drawback is that you'll often find yourself in trouble almost before you know it's there. In fact, there's a surprisingly steep learning curve, which can be infuriating at times. You need to know a course well to be able to win on it (allow a couple of laps to get orientated and to appreciate the stunning scenery), and even then it may only take a tiny error to drop you back into last place. However, with practice you'll soon be able to pull off some pretty cool manoeuvres to impress your mates.

And what do mates mean? That's right, multiplayer. However well a game like this lasts, however many extra cars or alternate courses you can unlock, its longevity ultimately boils down to how much fun it is to play with a bunch of friends after a night at the pub. Hands up, how many people still play single-player Mario Kart? But plug in four controllers and the game takes on a whole new life as you take out your pent-up aggression with a rocket up the... ahem... exhaust.

Apart from the minor niggles about the initial difficulty level, this is one cool game. It may not be Mario Kart, but it is the best multiplayer racer yet for Dreamcast. Spin it up when you get back from Toy Story 2 and away you go...