Zoom zoom!
Hover isn't the most complex or deep of games around but for a bit of nostalgic future sports-style fun, it's good enough to while away an hour or so on a wet Sunday afternoon. It's a far cry from other future sports games like Speedball and is more akin to Plane Crazy but with a little less flash and a look that is quite similar to shooters like the original Doom and Duke Nukem 3D. It's a first person game which takes place in a sort of futuristic arena and throws you into the cockpit of a hovercar. There's not much to the actual gameplay, with the main focus being on racing around the arena while capturing flags belonging to the enemy side. They of course are trying to do the same thing and it's basically a job of being the first one to get them all in order to determine the victor. There are a few powerups dotted around the arena, and if collected give you abilities like jumping or dropping barriers to hinder your opponent. The arena isn't all on one level, so you have to go up and down a bit and explore in order to find the flags, but that's pretty much all there is. Hover is certainly far from a classic or must play and is more of a demo of what Windows 95 was capable of than an actual full-fledged game. Having said that though, there is a bit of fun to be had here, although it is undeniably simplistic and is unlikely to keep you playing for long. The arena design is quite good and hunting out all the flags is strangely compelling, while the visuals are pretty decent for such a game, although it's not the fastest experience in the world. Overall, this is easily missed but which does provide a strangely enjoyable experience if sampled.
