Games Thursday : Be a Despatch Rider!
Think racing at high speed on massive sport bikes makes a challenging computer game? Wait until you attempt to weave through traffic like a madman on a tiny bike just to get stuff delivered on time in Rider 
© Crest Computer System
Racing purists probably won’t want to play a game where you have to obey the traffic lights (which there are quite a number), get trapped behind a bus or start with a measly 50cc bike with a max speed of 75 km/h (in contrast, my favourite bike, the mighty Suzuki Hayabusa, has a 1300cc engine with a top speed of over 300km/h).
© Crest Computer System
Job of the day. Click on the third button to get to it.
For the more open-minded virtual riders, this game offers you the chance to ride in a city that actually feels alive with a believable number of vehicles on the road as well as pedestrians who cross the road when the lights turn red. The brake and signal lights displayed as vehicles slow down and switch lanes make things a lot more convincing.
To spice up your life as a despatch rider, you got to watch out for aggressive taxis, falling crates from cargo trucks and even bumpy sections of road under repair.
© Crest Computer System
To simplify matters, your destination is always a couple of kilometres straight ahead so you don’t have to worry about navigational skills or having to read a map. Steering the bike is done entirely by moving the mouse within a square recticle : accelerate, brake and turn by moving the cursor away from the centre of the reticle in the desired direction.
You can hold the right mouse button to look behind you before overtaking (do remember you’re still moving ahead while doing this – I lost track of the number of times I almost rammed into the back of a taxi while enjoying the view behind me 
) The drivers behind seem to be a patient lot since I haven’t been hit from behind while cutting into their lane without warning. Can’t say the same thing for some of the motorists in front though.
The first delivery (of a total of six) is an excellent intro with relatively light traffic and a choice of using a SK50 or a 50kmh Segway for the environmentally conscious rider.
© Crest Computer System
Running out of time (riding too slowly, being pulled over for exceeding speed limits and speeding past red lights, etc) and over-reliance on ramming manuevers and destroying your bike in the process will automatically cause you to fail a delivery job.
© Crest Computer System
Each successful despatch unlocks a more powerful bike and new delivery job with its particular challenges. With power comes responsibility since it’s much easier to overspeed with the new bikes (especially the 180kmh MAX 1000) and get booked by the policemen stationed at various points with their radarguns (watch out for those hidden under the overhead bridges).
© Crest Computer System
Ticking the left checkbox for the third option (access the options menu with the second button of the main menu) resets the game after you save the chosen options with the left button on the options menu. Useful when you lose a couple of bikes by damaging them beyond repair in any mission.
Check out the official Rider page (Japanese) or download directly via Retro Remakes’ Freeware Database.
MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Be a Bus Driver!
Russ Schwenkler (dangeruss) – Vexel & 3D Cars and Motorcycle Art
Yamaha Motorcycles Papercraft
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