Review by: Bob Mandel
Published: August 23, 1999

When I drive around in real life, there are many fantasy experiences I miss. One is going at breakneck speed on a straightaway, so fast everything is a blur as I rush by. Another is skillfully weaving in-between obstacles so I just barely miss each one. But perhaps most of all I would like to be able to go around giant corkscrews and loops, moving fast enough to defy gravity as I look up and see only the ground above my upside-down head. I know I can never do this, but I would sure love to try.

Despite the hundreds of racing games I have played, only one has ever given me a chance to experience deeply this terrifying thrill in virtual reality: Interplay’s Whiplash. Bundled with my original Monster 3D 3dfx video accelerator, I just never tired of speeding through the loops. Unfortunately, I had to abandon racing on it when I upgraded to a Voodoo2 card and the title no longer worked properly. Since that time, my racing experience has been pretty flat.

Then comes along the oddly-named Thrust Twist + Turn. Published by the British Take 2 Interactive and developed by the Finnish Carts Entertainment, this offering is only available in Europe and is not slated to make its way to the United States. While this omission used to be the clearest signal of a second-rate release, now it means very little; the competition in the arcade car racing field is so intense many deserving titles go almost completely unnoticed. As it turns out, I think this is one solid offering the Yanks are going to miss.

The title claims to have a futuristic atmosphere, and indeed the first City track has a punk avant-garde Japanese twist to it, much like many recently-released arcade racers. But the other tracks move away from this motif and break into innovative and truly uncharted territory. Specifically: a Clouds track that is a magnificent aerial experience, bringing me about as close to racing in heaven as I am likely to get; a Stormy track that places you right in the middle of a huge hurricane at sea, leaving you drenched and quaking; and a Cave track that sends you through a dimly lighted subterranean voyage better than any I have seen before.