Screamer is an arcade-style racing game released for DOS in October of 1995. The game was developed by Italian video game studio Graffiti, today known as Milestone srl, under director Antonio Farina, and published by the now defunct Virgin Interactive Entertainment, Inc. There are five single player game modes and network play was also included. Six cars modelled after real-life sports vehicles are available to choose from, each with an automatic and manual option, all having their own livery and stats. There are six tracks to race on, three of which need to be unlocked in CHAMPIONSHIP mode. The hard rock soundtrack was composed by Allister Brimble. Screamer is a series of four games which includes three sequels — Screamer 2, Screamer Rally, and Screamer 4x4.
Because Screamer is a DOS game, it will not run natively on modern operating systems. DOSBox is necessary to play this game on current computers, and running setup also requires some configuration. If you own the game on GOG or Steam, setup is not required and the game should run 'out of the box.' Otherwise, if you still own Screamer on CD-ROM, put it in the CD/DVD drive and run DOSBox. Now enter the following commands:
mount c c:\dos mount d d:\ -t cdrom -usecd 0 -ioctl cycles=26800 d: install
Of course, mount C to your local drive and D to your optical disc drive according to your specifications. DOSBox recommends that you never mount C directly to your local drive, so make a new folder for DOS games and mount C to that folder. -t cdrom -usecd 0 -ioctl in the optical disc drive mounting process is necessary for the game disc to be read properly. Changing cycles to 26800 should emulate close to a 486 66 MHz — leaving cycles set to auto (DOSBox default) recommends 3000 cycles, which is too slow for setup.
Select Normal Installation, confirm the install paths, press Y to continue, and allow the game to extract. When prompted, press any key to continue. Change SCREEN MODE to SVGA and select SOUND CARD. On the SOUND CARD SETUP screen, select AUTO DETECT (this will select the default DOSBox configuration) and then TEST SOUND to make sure it works. With the CD mounted properly, TEST MUSIC should play the soundtrack from the CD-ROM. Press Escape twice to exit Setup and Y to save your settings. Before running Screamer, revert cycles back to auto (DOSBox will set it to max 100% when launching the game) for high framerate. Enter screamer to begin!
If you exit DOSBox and want to play Screamer again, you'll need to mount as before and launch the game from your local drive like so:
mount c c:\games mount d d:\ -t cdrom -usecd 0 -ioctl c: cd screamer screamer
To play with a controller rather than a keyboard, there's a setting in the DOSBox configuration file that you'll need to change beforehand. Open DOSBox 0.74-3 Options (dosbox-0.74-3.conf) in Notepad. Find [joystick], look for timed=true and change that to timed=false. This should fix drifting issues if you use the joystick for steering. Save and close Notepad. Open DOSBox, mount the drives like usual, and run setup. Select CONTROLS and you'll be brought to CONTROLS SETUP. From there, set presses to your preferences and calibrate the joystick. Press Escape to exit and press Y to save your settings. You'll still need to use the keyboard to move through the menus and make your selections.
If you are experiencing crashes, specifically at SUNBEACH HILL, there are two options. You could either go to OPTIONS and change HI DETAIL to LOW DETAIL, or you could launch Screamer in VGA mode. To run VGA mode, mount the drives and enter directories as usual. Rather than run screamer, you can run startl to play right away, or you can run setup and change SCREEN MODE to VGA.
| DRIVING | CAMERA | OTHER | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accelerate | Up Arrow Key | Bumper | F1 | Map | M |
| Brake | Down Arrow Key | Dashboard | F2 | Radio | P |
| Steer Left | Left Arrow Key | Tailgate | F3 | ||
| Steer Right | Right Arrow Key | Chase | F4 | ||
| Gear Up | Left Alt Key | ||||
| Gear Down | Left Ctrl Key | ||||
Exhibition races against 9 opponents. Select any car on any track, even ones you've unlocked. Change settings for NORMAL GAME by going to OPTIONS beforehand. You can change the difficulty from NORMAL to PRO to ROOKIE, and number of laps from 3 to 5 to 10 to 25.
Lead the ranks of ROOKIE, AMATEUR, and PRO leagues against 9 opponents. Unlock a bonus vehicle and more tracks for NORMAL GAME and SPECIAL MODES. Difficulty rises as you progress. Remember: if you're not first, you're last!
Pick from three solo races. No opponents. One lap around a track of your choosing. It's just you against the clock. TIME ATTACK is all about getting your best time with a regular countdown. CONE CARNAGE gives you mere seconds on the clock to wipe out various lines of traffic cones to gain more time. SLALOM puts your steering to the test by allowing you more time for every set of gates you successfully pass between.
Readily available for NORMAL GAME and SPECIAL MODES.
Readily available for NORMAL GAME and SPECIAL MODES.
Readily available for NORMAL GAME and SPECIAL MODES.
Beat CHAMPIONSHIP in ROOKIE LEAGUE to unlock for NORMAL GAME and SPECIAL MODES.
Beat CHAMPIONSHIP in AMATEUR LEAGUE to unlock for NORMAL GAME and SPECIAL MODES.
This track crashes all the time, specifically near the seaport area where the cranes are swinging around. If it doesn't crash on the first lap, it will definitely crash on the second. There is a fix, but it's not guaranteed to work 100% of the time. See Crash Help for more information.
Beat CHAMPIONSHIP in PRO LEAGUE to unlock for NORMAL GAME and SPECIAL MODES.
Lamborghini Diablo with 6 gears. Automatic transmission has a top speed of 340 km/h and numbered 1 with a solid red body. Manual transmission has a top speed of 343 km/h and numbered 8 with a white body and blue and red stripes.
Ferrari F40 with 6 gears. Automatic transmission has a top speed of 336 km/h and numbered 27 with a yellow body and white stripes. Manual transmission has a top speed of 340 km/p and numbered 11 with a white body and red stripes.
Bugatti EB110 with 6 gears. Automatic transmission has a top speed of 332 km/h and numbered 6 with a black body and red stripes. Manual transmission has a top speed of 336 km/h and numbered 7 with a solid blue body.
Mitsubishi 3000GT with 5 gears. Automatic transmission has a top speed of 319 km/h and numbered 3 with a red body and gray stripes. Manual transmission has a top speed of 324 km/h and numbered 57 with a green body and white stripes.
Porsche 911 with 5 gears. Automatic transmission has a top speed of 329 km/h and numbered 67 with a solid black body. Manual transmission has a top speed of 332 km/h and numbered 4 with a white body and blue and red stripes.
Chevrolet Corvette with 5 gears. Automatic transmission has a top speed of 338 km/h and numbered 34 with a gray body and orange stripes. Manual transmission has a top speed of 343 km/h and numbered 2 with a black body and orange flame pattern.
Race at PALM TOWN in the opposite direction. Not available in CHAMPIONSHIP. Beat CHAMPIONSHIP in BULLET LEAGUE to unlock for NORMAL GAME and SPECIAL MODES.
Race at LAKE VALLEY in the opposite direction. Not available in CHAMPIONSHIP. Beat CHAMPIONSHIP in BULLET LEAGUE to unlock for NORMAL GAME and SPECIAL MODES.
Race at LINDBURG in the opposite direction. Not available in CHAMPIONSHIP. Beat CHAMPIONSHIP in BULLET LEAGUE to unlock for NORMAL GAME and SPECIAL MODES.
Race at PALM TOWN NIGHT in the opposite direction. Not available in CHAMPIONSHIP. Beat CHAMPIONSHIP in BULLET LEAGUE to unlock for NORMAL GAME and SPECIAL MODES.
Race at SUNBEACH HILL in the opposite direction. Not available in CHAMPIONSHIP. Beat CHAMPIONSHIP in BULLET LEAGUE to unlock for NORMAL GAME and SPECIAL MODES.
Race at SANDROCK in the opposite direction. Not available in CHAMPIONSHIP. Beat CHAMPIONSHIP in BULLET LEAGUE to unlock for NORMAL GAME and SPECIAL MODES.
Drive the BULLET — a fictional rocket-powered car with a single gear. Automatic transmission with a top speed of 357 km/h and numbered 00 with a gray body with blue and orange stripes. Beat CHAMPIONSHIP in BULLET LEAGUE to unlock for NORMAL GAME and SPECIAL MODES.
All opponents drive BULLET cars. Difficulty can be found in OPTIONS. Beat CHAMPIONSHIP in BULLET LEAGUE to unlock for NORMAL GAME.
If you enter a code correctly, you'll hear a voice say "Wanna play dirty? Then let's play dirty!" Type these codes at any selection menu to unlock the following:
| V T E L O | All normal tracks available. |
| I N V E R | All inverted tracks available. |
| T A Z O R | BULLET car available. |
| A B U R N | Race against all BULLET cars in NORMAL GAME. To reverse affect, go to OPTIONS and select AFTERBURNER to change difficulty. |
| C L O C K | Stop the clock. Checkpoints still accrue time. |
| M O N T Y | Alternate obstacles type 1: A-frames become strollers, cones become rabbits, curve signs become Lum Invader clones, and slalom gates become swimsuit models. |
| J O I N T | Alternate obstacles type 2: A-frames become TNT crates, cones become bowling pins, curve signs become ghosts, and slalom gates become clowns. |
| U P D O W | Flip graphics vertically. Type again to reverse affect. |
| M I R R O | Flip graphics horizontally. Type again to reverse affect. |