Although you won't be driving fast or frantically, you'll still be on the edge of your seat as you struggle to drive up mountainous terrain and hope that you won't end up in the ravine below. Screamer 4X4 requires a driver with skill, nerves of steel and a sense of direction, as there are no tracks to follow on any of the landscapes, just gates to drive through. How you get from gate to gate is entirely up to you.

After a short introduction (no speech), you can choose from a single or multiplayer game. The single player game has 4 modes: Free Drive, Championship, Trophy and Pathfinder. There is a very brief tutorial but as this is unsubtitled, it's useless for deaf gamers. The heart of the game is Trophy, where you can access 60 courses. To win you must complete the course going though each gate in the shortest time and with the least penalty points as possible. Penalties are given if you miss or hit a gate and if you recover your vehicle. A win will give you much needed vehicle upgrades. You'll only get to race against other people if you choose a multiplayer game over a LAN or the Internet. You can race up to four players in five different games.

Screamer 4X4 uses a guidance system in the bottom left corner of the screen to guide you from gate to gate, rather like a compass and it's easy to see where you should be going even if the landscape dictates otherwise. The icon in the bottom right of the screen shows how much damage you have done to your vehicle, a necessary addition as you don't see any model damage.

Recommendation: Recommended if you want to simulate driving in the great outdoors.
Suitability for deaf gamers: Although the tutorial is not subtitled, you can find all the necessary information about the HUD on page 5 of the manual (in Acrobat reader format).

Overall Game Rating: 4.0/5