Moto Roader II

~ MOTO ROADER II ~

NCS/Masaya

HuCard

1991

Faster from the start and offering many more options and much more variety in general, Moto Roader II immediately comes off as an obvious upgrade over its excellent predecessor.

The first cool new thing you're likely to notice here is that you now have a decision to make regarding your vehicle. No longer relegated to traditional race cars, MR2 players can opt to pilot tanks or hovercraft instead. I must say that I still prefer the speedy little autos to the bulky war machines and wafty hovers in most situations, but the mere availability of these new entities means you have a wider variety of opposing vehicles to concern yourself with. And since each type can be built up numerous times and in varying ways, you're bound to run into lots of different contraptions out on the track.

The courses themselves are no longer enclosed in typical green-field-type areas. Now you take trips to volcanic regions and ice zones, to cities and savannahs.

And there are plenty of new hazards about as well, including boulders that come rumbling across the road and birds, helicopters, and UFOs that assail you from above.

The overall improvement is clear as day, yet I hesitate to say that I rank MR2 above its predecessor. The original had better music--not to say that the tunes in 2 aren't very good, because they are. And the original somehow proved ever so slightly more enjoyable to me--likely because its incredibly high fun factor took me by complete surprise, whereas excellence was expected from 2. Surely, most players will view the sequel as the superior episode. Regardless, this is one of those situations where buying both is undoubtedly the best course of action. They both rule.