4-Wheel Thunder is the second title in Midway's extreme racing series, which began with Hydro Thunder. Instead of guiding boats across water, you'll take control of a massive vehicle and fight for the title of champion. The objective? To blow away the competition!

As in Hydro Thunder, 4-Wheel Thunder has the player climbing into the driver's seat of a high-powered racing vehicle. The tracks are lined with checkpoints, which must be reached to extend the time of the race. At various locations along the courses are turbo icons, which give your car the temporary ability to boost itself into the lead. In addition, you can harm the enemy vehicles with a well-timed turbo rush!

A number of different trucks are available to players. If you prefer the power and grip of the big boys, the Monster Truck class has the Crazy Crusher and the Dry Oil car smashers. The Buggy class makes up the second group of 4-Wheel Thunder vehicles, focusing on speed and maneuverability. Due to the smaller tires, the buggies are lacking in the road grip area, but fans of the class can pick from the Annihilator and the Wild Brat

The third group is the Jeep class. While jeeps have a lower top speed than many of the other classes, they'll stay on the road in the toughest of conditions thanks to their handling. In this area, we have the Bullet and the Crusader. Finally, we have the Quad-type class that consists of converted road cars. The quad-type, which is composed of the Nitrate and the X-Terminator, offers a balance of high speed, grip and acceleration.

The available racing tracks offer a similar level of diversity. 4-Wheel Thunder has 11 different environments scattered across the globe. In the Alps, you'll take on the elements on a rainy track. The Canadian track is a wilderness romp where you'll travel across hills and plow through caves and logging stations along the way. As the name implies, Iceland offers a snowy, ice-encrusted track. Beware the massive gorge running through the level or you'll never make it to the end! In all, the 30 different racing tracks are designed to offer a mixture of action and challenge.

4-Wheel Thunder is compatible with a series of peripherals. If you're looking for the Arcade experience, simply plug in a racing wheel and go for the gusto. The Jump Pack draws you into the action by emulating the bumps of the track, and the VMU will keep your data safe from harm. In addition, the game offers a two-person multi-player mode.

4 Wheel Thunder (Sega Dreamcast, 2000)