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Gremlin continue their alternative approach to sporting games with another bundle of events to play through. Before play commences you must choose a country and the number of players and then choose which of the eight events you want to play. There's also a choice of practice and competition levels to play at.

There are eight events to complete: sack race, pile of plates, boot throwing, river jump, pole climbing, run up the wall, pillow fight and pogo. In the sack race, you compete with another human opponent or the computer in a race through the streets of Naples. The next one is a test of your balancing skill with a pile of plates. Reach the end of the course within the time limit a higher score is obtained with a higher pile of plates.

In boot throwing, you have a choice of water filled or empty, the former going further but also tiring you out quicker. The watery theme continues with the river jump, a pole vault with a wet difference. Verona is the scene of pole climbing which is a race for champagne, and then a descent back to the ground. Not too fast, though, or you'll drop the bottle. Like the sack race, you can compete against another player or computer.

When in Venice you have to run up walls and stick a hat to it. The hat is conveniently supplied by a low flying parrot who drops it. Everyone must have had a pillow fight at one time or another: the difference with this one is that the loser gets dunked in water. Finally you can play on your pogo stick and burst balloons as you go along.

The graphics aren't brilliant, and the animation isn't either. There's an excellent title tune and some reasonable effects within the game. Some of the events are fun to play, but yet again they lack anything to really draw you back again and again. At least you get eight events this time and they do vary considerably in style of play. Have a look before you make a decision though.

Try before you splash out (or climb the wall, throw a boot...)

Green.

Graphics 58%
P. Loadsa colour.
N. Slow horizontal scrolling.

Sonics 53%
P. Brilliant loading tune.

Grab Factor 56%
N. No cats to shoot!

Staying Power 48%
P. Eight different events to play.
N. Takes days to load from cassette.

Overall 51%
Too expensive for what it is.