''The Great American Cross-Country Road Race'' (UK re-release title: ''American Road Race'') is a racing video game written by Alex DeMeo for the

Atari 8-bit family The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The series was successively upgraded to Atari 1200XL , Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, Atari 800XE, ...

and published by Activision in 1985. It was ported to the

Apple II The Apple II (stylized as ) is an 8-bit home computer and one of the world's first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products. It was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak; Jerry Manock developed the design of Apple II's foam-m ...

and

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...

. The game is in part an adaptation of an earlier Activision game '' Enduro'', created for the Atari 2600 console, but with design, graphics and sound expanded to fit the capabilities of the more powerful computers.

Gameplay

The game puts the player in the position of a driver of a high-performance car, racing across the United States while passing through its major cities. Obstacles include weather, road conditions, limited fuel, and the highway patrol. The changing time of day affects gameplay, because the other cars drive faster at night. Players are given the option of choosing their routes from city to city, allowing them to, for example, take a northern route through the snowy Midwest. Every route has its own scoreboard for the top ten fastest times to complete each route.

Development

''The Great American Cross-Country Road Race'' was designed by Alex DeMeo, who had been inspired by the film '' The Gumball Rally''. DeMeo programmed the original version of ''Road Race'' on an Atari 800 including sound, music and some graphics. The game's title sequence was based on an introduction screen of another Activision video game '' Master of the Lamps''.

Reception

"After further playing I found this was in fact a good little road race". – Julian Rignall in '' Zzap!64'' issue, September 1985.The Great American Cross-Country Road Race review in '' Zzap!64'' issue #5, Sept. 1985, pp. 108, 109, ISSN 0954-867
here
/ref> '' Info'' rated the game three stars out of five, stating that it "feels pretty familiar" with "pretty standard" graphics and sound, and comparing it to '' Turbo''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Great American Cross-Country Road Race, the 1985 video games Apple II games Atari 8-bit family games Commodore 64 games Activision games Video games set in the United States Racing video games Video games developed in the United States

Gameplay

Development

Reception

See also

References