My review of Screamer, this game's predecessor, was positive overall but really only with the benefit of nostalgia and as a comparison to its contemporaries could it be recommended to anyone who hadn't played it back when it was released.

So, with a mixture of relief and surprise I find I can recommend Screamer 2 without any such caveats: Screamer 2 is good, and not just by 1996 standards.

I'm going to call the original game "Screamer 1" to differentiate it in this review.

Graffiti (who renamed themselves to Milestone before S2 was released) took what they had learned from Screamer 1 and improved every single aspect, and in doing so changed the basic nature of the game. Where Screamer 1 was a pure and somewhat janky arcade racer in the vein of Ridge Racer, Screamer 2 is far more similar to Sega Rally. Screamer 1's "rigid until you pass a point where it's not" handling was replaced with something far more realistic, far more physics-based and far more demanding of the player.

It's the first thing you notice when switching between the games. Suddenly your car has weight. It has momentum. It has an uncanny ability to slide right out of your control... and that's when you start learning.

I'll just say it right up front: Screamer 2 has pretty slippery controls. Perhaps the best way to describe this game would be arcade-rally-lite. You slide around corners of various magnitudes on tracks that have traded in Screamer 1's colourful, almost cartoonish vibe for a more staid and realistic appearance. That doesn't mean that the tracks are boring - they're more detailed and better designed for racing than anything Screamer 1 had to offer, and the move towards creating something slightly more akin to actually driving a car on an actual track is a grand progression from Screamer 1.

There are 4 teams you can drive for, each of which have the same 4 standard cars available, with car skins being the sole differentiator - literally that's all these teams are. Winning the final championship with a team unlocks that team's special car, giving a total of 8 distinct playable cars in the game. This may sound a little restrictive at first, but unlike in Screamer 1 these cars are customisable. You can alter the handling, brakes, tyre pressure, suspension and tyre type to suit the car and the track. These variables aren't just ancillary fluff, they can make a profound difference to your success or failure on a track (Egypt: Nebula 5 3 B 2 2 2 - you're welcome).

There are 7 tracks and you'll play the first 6 more than once throughout the four stages of the championship. Each track is different from the others, both in theme and in gameplay. The tracks each have their own character and are sufficiently distinct and varied that driving each one is a unique challenge. Zipping along the relatively straight and grippy streets of California feels completely different to sliding haphazardly over the weaving ice-clad roads of Finland. Most tracks have two types of surface on the course, so you can decide whether to, for example, use the touchy RWD Radiance car with the tyre pressure and suspension set firm so that you can fly through the asphalt sections, knowing that your handling will suffer on the shorter cobbled areas.

The rally game convention of displaying an arrow on the screen denoting the direction and tightness of a corner is used sparingly and somewhat inconsistently here. There are only two different arrows: a blue one for moderate corners and a red one for sharp corners or hairpins. Minor corners have no warnings whatsoever. While these arrows can be useful when trying to navigate a track for the first time, some of the arrows appear sooner or later than you would expect, which can lead to disaster if you're not paying attention. Fortunately, the arrows quickly become unnecessary as the six main tracks are burned into your memory from repeated attempts to conquer them.

The engine in Screamer 2 is still a software 3D engine at heart, but Screamer 2 is the first game in the series that had 3DFX acceleration support, in the form of a downloadable post-release patch. This is not part of the Steam release, and I haven't even tried to install Screamer 2 in a 3DFX-compatible version of DOSBOX, but that's OK because the game was originally developed with software rendering in mind and it looks just fine that way. Back in 1996 it was quite easily the best looking racer on the PC, even in software.

The incredibly short view distance from Screamer 1 has been extended considerably, so the pop-in is now far enough from the player's viewpoint that it doesn't feel like there is a team of invisible construction workers furiously building the track in front of you as you drive it. The tracks still have the little cosmetic details - planes, trains, small crowds of people who cheer as you pass but also the track itself has slightly more subtle cambers rather than the relatively angular planes of the previous game. Staying on track becomes a major part of navigating certain courses. In Screamer 1 you could pretty much just bounce off any wall and keep on rolling - try that on the Columbia course in Screamer 2 and you'll find yourself firmly in last place.

The car models have gained some more polygons in this iteration, which may account for the drop from nine opponents to just three. Three is more than enough, though, when you're struggling to find an opportunity to overtake. Which brings us neatly to how your car interacts with your opponents. It's better than Screamer 1 but it's far from perfect. Unlike the first game, the AI cars can probably give you a run for your money even on early levels until you get comfortable with the controls and handling, so you'll probably find yourself duking it out metal-to-metal for first place and the AI is not shy about colliding with you, even catastrophically.

The result of an impact with an AI car can be anywhere from a mild course correction to a total spin-out which will probably require you to restart not just the race, but the entire championship event. The AI does not rubber-band, so as much as you can leave your opponents in the dust with no hope of recovery, they can do the same to you. It's not an elegant, fully simulated physical impact system, but it is an improvement from Screamer 1, even if being shunted into a wall by the aggressive AI on the final turn can be a rage-inducing experience.

The sound, sadly, is barely improved from the first game. The engine sound is very loud and there's no volume control for either sound effects or music. You can turn the music off, and you'll probably want to, as there's only so much generic 90s electronic music one sane mind can take, but the sound effects are non-negotiable. Mercifully, the irritating/infuriating announcer from the first game is absent.

The game gets pretty challenging in the final stage of the championship as the AI will routinely outmanoeuvre you on corners and somehow accelerate away like rockets while you're spinning your wheels in the dirt at the side of the road. If you want to unlock all four special cars that means you'll be driving the same tracks over and over and over. Replay value or just repetition? You decide.

Despite its flaws, Screamer 2 just doesn't feel like a game from 22 years ago. It doesn't feel nearly as dated as its predecessor. The AI and controls might be a little rough at times, and the collision physics can be a bit unpredictable, if not aggravating, but the core gameplay - the actual driving - just feels good. It's not a simulation, it's arcadey and lightweight, but the substance that does exist is... satisfying.

I have no problem recommending Screamer 2. If you like racing games, retro games or both, you should give it a try. If you hate the slipperiness of the controls - hey, it's cheap.

Edit: I should mention that the Steam version of S2 worked flawlessly for me. Performance is fine and I haven't experienced a single crash. Unlike S1.