Ludography
E-Type cover

1989 · Gordon J. Key · Racing

E-Type

A driving game similar to OutRun except players control a Jaguar instead of a Ferrari.

Released
1989
Platforms
Acorn ArchimedesAcorn ElectronBBC Microcomputer System
Genres
Racing
Developers
Gordon J. Key
Publishers
The Fourth Dimension
Modes
Single-player
Perspective
Third person
Country
United Kingdom

About

E-Type is a clone of Sega's arcade driving game Out Run for the BBC Micro, Acorn Electron, and Acorn Archimedes. It was written by Gordon J. Key and published by The Fourth Dimension. Instead of the Ferrari from Out Run, the player drives a blue Jaguar E-type.

In addition to the game a separate track designer was released which allows players to make and save their own tracks. A pack of extra tracks entitled The Extra 100 Miles was available.

Keywords

  • time limit
  • pixel art
  • high score
  • single-player only
  • countdown timer

Media

E-Type screenshot 1

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

The objective of E-Type is to cover as much distance as possible in the given time limit over various stages, avoiding static obstacles such as roadworks, oil slicks, trees and postboxes. If the car hits such an object both the driver and his blonde female passenger are thrown upwards from their seats, with the car's wheels falling off on their landing. The car is then automatically reset and moved to the centre of the road for the player to restart. Additionally, other cars can also be seen driving along the roads and need to be avoided - collisions here also add damage the car.

When the car has had too many hits, the passengers fall into their seats and the car's bumper falls off, meaning that the game is over. On parts of some tracks, the road is surrounded by water - if the car drives onto the water, it will submerge and the game is over.

Reception

In 1989, Lazarus of The Micro User rated the game a 9/10 overall, noting "there's just one word to describe E-Type: Fantastic". The reviewer highlighted that "a trip computer display gives elapsed time, distance covered, average speed, skill level and adjusted score", and "you and your car can take a certain number of bumps and knocks before becoming completely defunct". Geoff Brown, in the "View II" review for The Micro User, commented that "the feeling of speed is superb" and "really enjoyed running down" cones with no "apparent penalty". Brown also highlighted that E-Type "is obviously seen as the Archimedes answer to arcade games like Out-run" and "as a simple car racing game it's certainly fun but it isn't a simulation – and as a competitor to Out-run?

There's no music". In 1990, Stephen Wade of The Micro User rated the BBC Micro version of the game a 8/10 overall. He commented that "anyone expecting a pure copy of the Archimedes version can forget it", however, "gameplay is very similar" with identical tracks and "only a few features are missing". Wade highlighted that "the graphics are for obvious reasons of an inferior calibre, but by 8 bit micro standards are still very impressive".

Legacy

The E-Type Compendium later combined the original game with the track designer and The Extra 100 Miles track collection.

E-Type 2 was released in 1994 and contained a few additions to the original, including a 2-player split-screen mode. The 2nd player appears as the blonde female passenger from the first game, behind the wheel of a pink E-Type Jaguar. Other features include tunnels, three-lane roads, bad weather conditions, police radar traps, overheating cars and various weapons for attacking other cars. Separate versions of E-Type 2 were released for the Archimedes and the Risc PC.

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

PlatformReleasedRegions
BBC Microcomputer System31 December 1989Worldwide

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Collections2 collections

Platform libraries

Genres

Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.