The latest in a series of sport-type computer games is Daley Thompson's Super-Test from Ocean. Unfortunately, it's just another (poor) conversion from the Sinclair Spectrum and Commodore 64 machines, and doesn't do justice to the superior capabilities of the BBC Micro.
Super-Test consists of eight events, four on each side of the tape. On day one the events that you face are pistol shooting, cycling, springboard diving, and giant slalom. Day two consists of rowing, penalties, ski-jump and tug-of-war.
In this type of game I group the events into three categories: moronic keyboard smashes; infantile keyboard smashers; and not so moronic and infantile keyboard smashers. Of the right events, cycling, rowing, ski-jump and tug-of-war come into the first category. Springboard diving, giant slalom, and penalties enter category two. Only one event is in the last category - pistol shooting, which, although difficult to play, is quite fun when you get used to the keys.
As with most games of this variety, it's very difficult to have realistic sound. Even with that in mind, I was not impressed by the sound in Super-Test.
Now for the good points, Super-Test, unlike many similar games, allows you to continue with the events even if you haven't qualified - you can go on to the next event without completing the one you are on. You just lose a life. Lives left are displayed as a line of runners, one of which fades away every time you fail to qualify, which is a nice touch.
The important question that has to be asked is, how does it rate compared to the other sports games. In my opinion, Super-Test is superior to Tynesoft's Commonwealth Games, but is below the standard of Alligata's excellent Olympic Decathlon.
Super-Test isn't very original. If Ocean had come up with some events that genuinely required some sort of manual dexterity (and a bit of thought) it would have been interesting. Please try harder next time, Ocean.
A conversion from the Spectrum that doesn't really exploit the BBC machine's potential. Still it's superior to Tynesoft's Commonwealth Games, but below the standard of Alligata's excellent Olympic Decathlon.
Screenshots
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