Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

Slicks starts with an unusually direct proposition: qualify for a six-round Formula One season, race, score points, and try not to crash. You get one qualifying lap, and one mistake puts you at the back of the grid. That is a punishing rule, but it gives even the opening USA round real nerves. You are not merely trying to set a clean lap; you are protecting your entire race before it begins.

The racing itself is built around a simple control arrangement. The joystick steers and brakes, while the fire button accelerates, so success comes down to judging corners and keeping the car on the limited stretch of track visible on screen. A crash ends the race outright. Slicks therefore has little patience for desperate recovery drives or repeated attempts to muscle through traffic. If that sounds severe, it is; practice first is sensible advice rather than a timid option.

Its best wrinkle is the chance to challenge another driver for their car before the main race. Starting with the second-slowest Bennetton means there is a tangible reason to chase wins beyond championship points: beat a rival and take their faster machine, but risk losing yours if it is the better car. That makes the Ferrari, Lotus, Brabham, McLaren, and Williams opposition feel tied to progression rather than just being names on a grid.

Two-player mode is a smart change of pace. Both drivers share one screen, and drifting off it costs a light while handing that light to the other racer. It turns the scrolling limitation into a brisk head-to-head rule: stay in view, force your friend into a mistake, and protect your remaining lights. It is less like a full race weekend and more like a compact duel, which suits the game’s unforgiving arcade streak.

Graphics

The action is shown from overhead, with the camera following only a small portion of the circuit at once. Cars are small but the view keeps the important problem clear: where the next bend is, whether you are about to leave the screen, and how close a crash may be.

During races, the display also shows lap time, best lap time, car make, and speed. It is a functional C64 racing screen, focused on keeping the numbers you need close at hand while the track scrolls beneath the car.

Story

There is no elaborate drama wrapped around Slicks, and that restraint fits. Your role is simply a Formula One driver entering a championship in a Bennetton, trying to beat five established rival teams across the USA, Brazil, Britain, France, Italy, and Monaco.

The small amount of competitive context does more work than you might expect. You are not handed the best car at the start, so the season has a natural underdog edge. Winning a challenge can improve your prospects; losing can send you backward. That is enough narrative momentum for a racer built around short, high-risk events.

Because each crash can immediately end qualifying or a race, the championship tells its story through pressure and consequences rather than scenes or dialogue. A clean run, a stolen faster car, or a ruined grid position becomes the memorable part of your season. It is bare-bones, but it gives the results a little bite.

Overall Experience

Slicks is a compact, stern racer that gets its hook from consequences. The first hour is likely to be full of aborted runs and annoyed restarts, particularly if you expect room to recover from a mistake. Stick with it long enough to learn the tracks and the controls, though, and the one-lap qualifying and one-crash race rules turn clean driving into a genuine accomplishment.

The six-circuit season is not sprawling, but it does not need to be. Car challenges add a worthwhile gamble to every stop, the championship points give the rounds a clear order, and the circuit list keeps the campaign moving. The payoff is the satisfaction of surviving a race cleanly while improving your equipment, not a deep simulation of Formula One.

Give it a chance if you like old arcade racers that demand precision and make failure sting, especially if you have someone nearby for the shared-screen mode. Skip it if immediate race-ending crashes sound more irritating than exciting. Slicks earns its fun through discipline, and it asks you to meet it on those terms.

Retro Replay Score

7/10