Previous Next

After an opening ceremony of Korean travelogue pictures, you're shown a map of the Olympic village with icons for each of the eight events placed in the relevant stadiums. Move a cursor over the event you want to practise or select a Yin-Yan symbol for the actual competition options (players/country selection, etc).

Velodrome cycling is viewed in 3D from behind two cyclists, one of whom is under joystick control. Waggle like hell to build up speed, but if you're really smart, duck in behind the other cyclist, thus slipstreaming and saving a lot of energy until the time comes to make a break for the line.

The other track event is the 400m Hurdles. Again, success is all down to the speed of waggling, though timing your leaps is also crucial if you don't want grazed shins.

In the Pole Vault, you view your vaulter from the front. Speed him up by moving the joystick left and right in sync with his footfalls. Plant the pole correctly and over you go.

The other field event is the Hammer Throw. Wiggle the stick and your thrower twirls his equipment, then hit the button at the right moment and away it goes.

Archery entails setting the tension on the bowstring and aiming at the target, taking into account changeable wind direction. This is the easiest event, mainly because it's the only one that doesn't require any timing.

Diving is much more difficult. Set the tension of the board and off your fellah goes. Time his spring, then perform a dazzling mid-air contortion by selecting any of the sixteen positions.

The last two events take place indoors. For top marks on the rings you should move from position to position in a graceful sequence, waggling at a certain speed to perform the move indicated by a flashing icon - the uneven parallel bars is similar, but you just push up or down to choose direction of motion and the on-screen Olga does the rest.

Being a bit of a non-sporty type I didn't find swinging about on the bars in The Games: Summer Edition as entertaining as, say, throwing frisbees in California Games or tossing cabers in World Games. Unlike other Epyx "Games" it places quite an emphasis on joystick waggling, though I was pleased to see some fresh approaches to the traditional events such as the 3D views in the cycling and hurdles. Playing the archery and hammer-throwing events reveals a load of neat little touches which really do make the game more interesting and enjoyable.

A simulation feel makes The Games: Summer Edition slightly less playable than earlier Epyx "Games", but should make it a winner among athletics fans.

Slightly weaker sound and graphics separate this from the Amiga version. It also comes on foour disks rather than two, so playing is a little more awkward.