Personal Computer Games


Olympimania

Author: SM
Publisher: Automata
Machine: Spectrum 48K

 
Published in Personal Computer Games #8

Olympimania

Even if only half the world competes at Los Angeles in this year's Olympics, Automata's latest offering will enable you to control that little cult figure the Pi-Man in his search for gold and glory in five Olympic events.

Now sober and fit, the Pi-Man is bidding for glory in the Pi Jump Alpi Skiing, the Steepichase, the Pitathlon and the Butterpi.

As ever with the Pi-Man, things do not always go smoothly, and hazards to watch out for include Lurch the office parrot dropping steroids on the track, alligators and octopuses in the swimming pool, treacherous foreign competitors with no sense of fair play - in fact, just about everything you'd expect from the weirdos at Automata.

Olympimania

Controls are kept very simple - just S to start, 0 to make the Pi-Man run or swim faster, 6 to slow him down and 8 to make him jump or dive. There's a Kempston joystick option - but really in a game of this kind a 'stick is more of a hindrance than a help.

Scoring is kept very simple - each event gives the Pi-Man the chance to win gold, silver or bronze or to finish unplaced, and there is a 'world record' to set this is an accumulated time for all five events.

The Currah Microspeech unit may be connected for better sound effects and, as always in a Pi-Man game, there is a free piece of 'music' on the flipside of the cassette. It's as excruciating as you'd expect...!

It's certainly a novel enough game, and the simplicity of it means that its appeal is instant - but I doubt if I'll still be playing Olympimania when the real thing's on TV.

SM

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