The installation is a standard install. Not much to see here.

When you first start up the game, you will be presented with Pangea's trademark quirky interface. Unless you have played other Pangea games, you may be lost when trying to get a game going. But here are some quick tips. To move up and down through the choices, use the arrow keys. To select something, use the space bar, and to go back in the menus, use the escape key. After navigating a couple times, you will get used to it.

When you go to start a game, you will be presented with three choices of play, single player, two player/splitscreen, and net game. If you select single player, you will be able to practice a track, or enter a tournament. Either way, you will then go into a few more screens, where you can select a male or female driver, and the kart you want. I suggest practicing quite a bit before trying your hand in a tournament (where you have a limited number of tries, and some pretty stiff requirements to win).

If you select two player mode, you and a friend can play on the same computer. The keyboard can get kind of crowded like this, so I suggest getting a game pad or two if you will play this way often. When you do play this way, you will go into a split screen mode, with one player on top, another on the bottom of the screen. Don't cheat and look at the other person's half to gain an advantage ;)

Finally, the net game. Here, you can play over the Internet, or your local area network via AppleTalk. Either way, you can have up to 6 players (no computer players however). This could mean one of the most fun and exciting LAN party games. To add to this level of fun, there are five different multiplayer game types. A normal race, keep away tag (don't be 'it' for too long), stampede tag (be 'it' for a time duration), survival (try to eliminate others by damaging them with items and crashing), and Quest for Fire (get all of your torches to your home base). Of these types, Quest for Fire is the most unique for racing games, and in my opinion, the greatest fun. It's too bad Cro Mag Rally isn't compatible with GameRanger.

Now, we finally get to the game play. The underlying object of each game type is racing your little kart around. You do this simply by using the arrow keys (you can configure the keys however you like). At first, you will think you are moving at ungodly speeds, but after a couple tries, you will get the hang of it, and realize the speed just adds to the game. Also, there are a couple other keys you will want to learn. mainly, the command and option keys (again, configurable to the way you like). The command key will shoot items you pick up forward, and the option key will shoot or drop them backwards. Learning how to do this is crucial to your success.

Speaking of items, there are ton of them in this game. From exploding bones, to homing pigeons, and even bottles rockets, to oil splots, land mines, and Roman candles. These items, plus more, are ones that you try to use against your enemies. Others like invisibility, sticky tires, and super suspension are used to enhance your kart for a short time. Learn how to use these wisely.

Finally, we get to the backbone of racing games, the tracks. Cro Mag Rally contains different tracks for multiplayer and single player, which each have their own advantages and disadvantages. Icy surfaces, underwater, and lava pits all require different strategies. Plus, each track has it's own obstacles. Cactuses, dinosaurs, polar bears, and so much more are trying to make it harder for you to win. This makes each track different, which is something many racing games lack. Kudos to Pangea for conquering this common oversight.

This game does seem a little rough around the edges. Quite a few times, I had a symptom that I came to call the "Black Screen of Death." This usually happened when loading the game, and the music would go silent, with the only recourse being a force restart. This happened in both Mac OS 9.1 and X. The supposed cure for this is to trash Cro Mag Rally's preference file.

Also, when playing a net game via AppleTalk, only one game could be played in succession (without quitting the game), without getting an error message. On top of this, net games are unplayable currently in OS X, and there are graphics artifacts abound in OS X.

If you are getting sick of these blood and guts games, then Cro Mag Rally may be just what you need. Just because there is no killing, blood, or adult content doesn't mean it can't be a great game. It's filled with a ton of action, and more fun than a barrel of dinosaurs.

Pros	Cons
Decent graphics Well done sounds Lots of action Great for all ages Network and splitscreen play No Blood and Guts Different every time Easy to learn controls	A few bugs Interface is kind of quirky (if you aren't used to Pangea games) Physics engine isn't entirely accurate No GameRanger support
8/10 stars