Product Reviews

The trouble with drugs, as Harry Hill pointed out, is that they're so moreish. Computer games aren't usually quite so bad, but Trackmania is so addictive that it should have cigarette-style health warnings plastered in huge, doom-laden letters all over its DVD case.

Except that there is no DVD case, because Trackmania Nations Forever is only available online and is completely free. Yup - gratis, zero pence. Just point your Internet browser to www.trackmania.com, select one of the several download links, and wait as the 500MB installer trickles down to your PC.

First, though, we urge you to exercise caution. If you don't have a great deal of spare time, or would like to witness some of the few days of glorious sunshine that our British summer may have in store, then don't, whatever you do, download this game. Ignore the 5 out of 5 score; ignore the Best Buy award. Flick over the page now and pretend you never saw any of this. You'll thank us.

If you're foolish enough to take the risk, however, you've got a treat in store. The premise is simple: race around a variety of tracks as fast as you can. Fear not, there's no hint of

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realistic car handling or accurate damage modelling here. The emphasis is on fun, pure and simple.

The first of Trackmania's many masterstrokes is its gloriously simple controls. All you need are the cursor keys. Forward accelerates, back brakes, and left and right steer. It couldn't get any simpler.

The challenge is to get from A to B in the shortest time possible. Play in Solo mode and you have 65 levels to work your way through, all divided into a range of difficulty levels. Earn medals in the first tier of every difficulty, and you'll unlock more levels with which to challenge your racing skills.

Wacky races

If you're imagining that this all takes place on bog -standard ovals and figures of eight, think again. Jumps, barrel rolls and loop-the-loops crop up at every turn, and the slightest error of judgement sends you hurtling into oblivion. Fortunately, all you need to do is dab the Backspace key to reappear at the start. The danger is in how often you'll find yourself having 'just one more go'. After all, the next medal is just a few milliseconds away...

Once you've honed your driving skills, you can hop online and pit your skills against the world. No argy-bargy allowed: the other drivers appear as 'ghosts', so you can see them careering wildly off into the distance but the only deciding factor is skill. Well, that and quite a lot of luck.

The final, delicious cherry on top is that you don't need a top-class gaming PC to play. Even our dusty old HP laptop with its integrated graphics gave us smooth, jerk-free gameplay after a bit of fiddling with the settings. So, it's free, fun, and playable on just about any PC more advanced than a typewriter. Shut the curtains and unplug the phone - we're spending summer indoors.