RVF Honda (Amiga) - A Playguide and Review - by LemonAmiga.com
51RVF Honda is a bike racing game, coded by Ed Hickman, and released through MicroStyle in 1990. The game features sampled bike audio, and at least 24 different real-world tracks to race on. I quite enjoyed my time with this game, as it has some kind of hidden charm...?
Please support this channel, and get early access to everything!
https://www.patreon.com/lemontubeamiga
Our Backers!
1. π₯ Kim Lemon
2. π₯ Sepp
3. π₯ Predseda
4. π₯ Paul Henderson (Loki)
5. π₯ Bloxyman22
6. π₯π₯ Ed Heaton
7. π₯π₯ Mahen
8. π₯π₯ Michael Nicholson
9. π₯ Eric Johnson
10. π₯ Bernhard Lukas
11. π₯ Ramon Schmitt
12.π₯ Glenn Main
13.π₯ Paolo Mirabella
14.π₯ Martin Roeleveld
Production Notes:
Captured: 25-26 March 2023
Narrated: 26th August 2023
Completed/uploaded: 27th August 2023, V2
We are getting to the end of this series, with just two more games to go. I put this one up on the patreon backers section six months ago, but there was never enough votes to push this one through, and so it has languished on the shelf. Hopefully there are a few people interested in this one, so better late than never.
I tried to play this game at least 3 or 4 times over the years, and each time I just could not get on with it. Until I realised that you have to take all the corners preemptively. With this understood, it felt a lot better, and the game just seemed to open up like a book after that. To test out my new skills, I played the first round of events - the easy ones - and sailed straight through them. Then after moving up to the second division, it seemed natural to put the recorder on and record my progress from there. I fully expected to crash out and lose the championship on my first attempt, so it was a surprise to win it. Since this was recorded, I dont think I tried the hard races once apart from Laguna, but it was nice to get through to them.
Danscore:
2.5D bike racing games are not so common on the Amiga. The Cycles and Combo Racer aren't exactly amazing, but they still play a lot better than Red Zone or Team Suzuki. So for me it comes down to one bike racing game, and one only: Super Hang-On. It is not the fastest but it is fun and playable, and I beat it inside out and upside down. This game has plenty of noisy sound effects; which seem to increase the atmosphere, but apart from that, features very little music. The tracks are never very wide, but the bike seems to be able to go around any corner given the correct gear. Other bikers just melt away, and can be passed straight through; so no constant bumping like Super Hang-on. The game seems fast enough but also rather sluggish, and the bike takes a moment to swing left and right, a bit like Speed King on the C64. I'd say this is similar to Speed King, only it seems to be a lot easier to cut through the pack and win, even with a few write-offs. There is bike damage, although it only affects the gears. There is a copper sky, and random times of day, but no weather. There is oil and water, but no collectables like Turbos, or a way to tune your ride. The variety of the tracks is good, although there are very few landmarks to tell them apart. If anything, the game can feel very slow to react, and doesn't like late reactions, so newbies can find themselves going off on every corner, and writing the whole game off. With some mastery, it becomes easier. RVF Honda can not beat Super Hang-on, but it can offer a few hours of enjoyment on a rainy Sunday, when you might feel like something fresh. I'd give it 7 out of 10. I love lots of things about it, but riders dropping oil on corners while never going off themselves can be off-putting, and there is never a reason to pit in to repair damage, making the pits rather pointless.