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In case anyone out there hadn't noticed, winter has begun. Winter means snow, frozen toes and winter sporting games. This is the first out-and-out bobsleigh game, featuring fast-moving graphics and a strategy element in your attempts to win Olympic gold.

As with most of Digital Integration's games, there is an extensive menu that allows you to get to grips with the game and gradually work your way up as you gain in expertise. The first option on the menu is "events" which enables the following: demo, single, season, Olympic, practice, save/load and restart. Demo just shows you how it should be done, single allows you to choose one of the six courses and race on that, practice lets you have a run down the course before going for the race. A season is a series of twelve runs, two on each course where you try to amount championship points.

The Olympic option can't be used until you have an Olympic class bob and have finished in the top three during a championship season. Points are scored according to your finishing position in the race, eight for first and one for eighth - unless you crash in which case you don't score anything. Restart lets you start again from scratch.

"Players" comes next and from this you can select the number of players and the nationality of your team. One or two people can play and, in the two player game, you each choose a country to represent. "Venues" lets you choose which course to race down (in the single option), get a map of the course and see the World Records for the particular course in both two- and four-man bobs.

The six courses are St. Morltz, Konigssee, Innsbruck, Winterberg, Calgary and Breuil. The difficulty of the courses varies with some very nasty bends in places. The weather conditions can be looked up in more detail from the next option on the menu and this is important in selecting which runners to use on the bob. They come in four types and the right choice is needed to get the maximum speed and grip out of the bob with the particular weather conditions.

Before you start the race, it might be an idea to have a bobsleigh. There are four types of bob: amateur, national, European and Olympic. Initially you can only afford an amateur bob with a two- or four-man team and this sets you back £8,000. The more expensive the bob, the faster it will go, but it also gets harder to control at top speed. The better you do in races the more sponsorship money you get, allowing the more expensive bobs to be bought.

The final option is the cash option and this allows you to choose your team colours and train the crew. With training you have a short period of time in which you waggle up and down on the joystick to increase their fitness. Fitness starts at poor and goes through several stages before ending up with super-human.

Everything's ready now so grab your joystick and prepare to race; the lights go green and off you go. To start the bob you need to waggle up and down and then, just before you reach a black line across the course, you leap into it. If you jump too late then the bob will go without you for a short and destructive run down the course, before crashing into a wall of ice. Your view is from behind the brakeman in the bob. The view tilts as you go around curves, giving an excellent impression of speed and movement.

Assuming that you made it past the start, you then have to go as fast as possible down the course, steering around bends and travelling along the ice wall, in an attempt to beat your computer or human opponents. Take care that you don't go too high on the banking because crashing causes severe damage to your bob and bank balance.

Crashing is pretty spectacular - never fatal, but it does lose you the race. If you do well then you will get sponsorship. This is needed to keep repairing the bob, replace the worn runners and train the team. Bankruptcy will result in having to begin all over again.

One point to remember is to hit the brakes at the end of a race, otherwise you'll crash into the bales and lose the race.

Sporting fans may well recognise the title tune that plays until you're ready to play, and very nice it is too.

Sound is rather simple in the game, being just runners scraping against ice and the wind whistling past. There's not much else they could do in terms of sound for a simulation like this, and at least it gives you an idea of the speed you're going.

The bobsleigh itself is large and colourful with the riders sitting in the bob, wearing your team colours. The course graphics are fast and move smoothly as you hurtle around corners.

Sporting simulations have never been a particular favourite of mine, but occasionally one crops up that's head and shoulders above the rest; this is one of them. It's not just a case of seeing how fast you can waggle the joystick, because there's the strategy element too. Anyone can get a fast time, but it will take lots of practice before you walk away with Olympic gold.

Bobsleigh games have cropped up as part of other sporting compilations, but never as a game on its own. DI's full-blown effort is absolutely tremendous, combining some great fast action with tactical decisions. This sort of thorough treatment of a simulation is so much better than just a simple arcade game.

The graphics are excellent and the control of the bob is just right to get you totally involved with the driving. It takes a while to get proficient, but the whole learning process and eventual triumph is enormously rewarding.

Complete a season in the top three.

Graphics 90%
P. Bright and colourful bobsleigh.
P. Fast-moving track graphics as you hurtle downward.

Sonics 63%
P. A great little title tune.
N. In-game effects are naturally limited.

Grab Factor 90%
P. Controlling the bob has a superb "feel".
P. Host of options to vary the action.

Staying Power 93%
P. Olympic gold will take a long time to get.
P. Strategy element extends the game's life.

Overall 91%
P. A combination of strategy and fast reactions that mould together well.