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"The magical mouse maze makes for a fast-paced, challenging game of wit, strategy and reflexes. Excellent graphics." (From the Spring 1983 issue of "Commodore Power Play", page 103)
Review
"This scrolling maze chase sends the player scurrying along corridors on a mission to grab all the available cheese." (Seen in Nov 1982 issue of "Electronic Games", page 49.)
Trivia
Another one of Commodore's early attempts to get away with copying another manufacturer's games and sell them as their own? (See also Star Battle and Jelly Monsters.) Those two were apparently yanked off the market early. This clone of Rally-X was apparently very popular at the time, judging by the relative ease of finding one.
Trivia
The arcade coin-op "Rally-X" was a 1980 Midway game. The arcade industry saw Rally-X as the next big thing, until Pac-Man took an unexpected popularity ride. Rally-X was all but forgotten then. It had serious potential, I'll grant you that. Simple enough to attract a wide audience, with enough tension to keep interest up among the more advanced players. A quarter hog, for sure. But the best laid plans of mice and men... (Sorry, I couldn't resist!)
Trivia
There are some interesting notes hidden inside the actual code of the game... "this program was created by -bill hindorff- nov. 5, 1981 vic commandos k. of p., usa" it says at $A34B in the unmodified game code. (Does K of P = "King of Prussia, PA"?)
Trivia
Neil Harris confirmed that "Vic Commandos" was the in-house name for the small group that was working to launch the Vic20 system. He also mentioned in that same online interview that the group often spent long lunches at local video arcades doing "R&D" work.
Trivia
This game is so close to being Rally-X, that the "cheese" almost resembles the original flags and all the other graphics also look very close to their inspirations. But the clincher as far as I'm concerned; the onscreen text has precisely the right amount of characters to have originally been text right from "Rally-X"! I suspect they made a literal copy first, then made their changes.

"Commodore's blatant Rally-X clone."

Commodore released Radar Ratrace in 1981 for the Vic-20 as a blatant clone of Namco's 1980 Rally-X arcade game. As to how Commodore got away with cloning such a prominent game without a lawsuit is anyone's guess especially since the game was later ported to the Commodore 64. The game is so much a clone that if you've played Rally-X you've played this game.

The object of the game is to guide a mouse around a maze and collect pieces of cheese spread out across the stage while constantly avoiding rats that are chasing you. There are also stationary cats that must also be avoided as well as a timer that you have to contend with. When you find yourself surrounded you can drop magic dust that will temporarily stun the rats allowing you to get away but it has to be used sparingly as it eats up your time real quickly. The game gets its namesake from the fact that you only see a zoomed in view of a small portion of the maze and has you rely on a radar screen in the bottom corner with a map showing the locations of the cheese.

Radar Ratrace is actually a pretty challenging game. It plays pretty fast and it takes some practice to avoid the rats and to survive more than a single round. Once I got the hang of it I was able to finish several rounds but I still couldn't last forever. Despite the challenging game play the game is still not that fun nor original. After only a few minutes I found myself bored with the game and was ready for something else; this is coming from someone who's not a fan of Rally-X in the first place.

The music is amusing but nothing to get excited about. There's a altered version of the "Three Blind Mice" theme that constantly loops in the background but grows old pretty quickly. The sound effects are nothing more than blips and bleeps but they are at least lively sounding and don't really detract from the game at all thankfully.

Despite being unoriginal and rather dull the game still has that early 80's charm to it and is somewhat humorous and is still fun to play. If you are a fan of Rally-X you'll almost definitely enjoy this game especially since Rally-X wasn't ported to any consoles during its time. I can't really recommend this game otherwise unless you find you find it very cheap.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 04/04/12

Game Release: Radar Rat Race (US, 1981)