Developed by NuFX and published by Atari Corporation in 1991, the Atari Lynx version of Hard Drivin’ was quite impressive for the time. It showed that the Lynx could handle rudimentary 3D polygonal games – and in colour. Something that its main rival (the Nintendo Game Boy), couldn’t do.

That said, the Lynx version of Hard Drivin’ is possibly a little too ambitious for its own good, and isn’t what I would call a groundbreaking game. At least, not in the playability stakes.

Keeping the car on the road, on any of the two tracks, is a tough ask in itself, and too much time spent off-road will cause the game to end prematurely. As will crashing – either into incoming traffic, or parts of the scenery. Oh, and there’s fuel to think about too…

Hard Drivin’ is supposed to be a driving “simulation”, but on fantasy tracks, with no real danger to be had. But it doesn’t feel like a simulation to me – it feels more like a nightmare drive on black ice…

If you’re careful, and persistent, then you might be able to make it around the track once, and you might have some fun with the game, but I never managed to do a full lap, and didn’t have much fun playing Hard Drivin’ on the Lynx.

More: Hard Drivin’ on Wikipedia