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Winter Games on the Amiga, Wow! Well, at least that's what I thought. Winter Games made its 16-bit debut on the ST some months ago, and now it's the Amiga's turn.

As with the C64 version, the first taste of the games is the opening ceremonies. The scene is now an archway instead of the old steps, and the torch bowl is much wider. A female runner legs it on-screen and lights the fire. Here we go!

After selecting a few options, you must type in your name, and select a country. After choosing a flag, their national anthem will play, and then player two enters his name etc.

When all are done. You press fire on the joystick and up loads the first event.

Yes, I did say 'loads'. I don't know why the whole game isn't in memory. The events, in the correct order, are:

1. Hotdog: You must perform breathtaking, extremely difficult somersaults, while flying through the air.

Although it's very easy to land your skier, scoring a perfect ten is damn near impossible!

2. Biathlon: This event consists of ski-ing across a scrolling landscape, stopping every so often to take potshots at unfortunate targets. The backdrop for this event is drawn very well, considerably better than the C64. The screen also scrolls, unlike the other versions which 'flick'.

3. Speed Skating: In this event a player may race against the computer or a friend. Using precise timing, a player can leave his opponent standing, but be warned, the computer doesn't hang around either.

4. Figure Skating: A definite improvement in the graphics compared with the original. The female skater now has an hourglass figure instead of the ol' matchstick body, and she even has orange undies on. Pity she hasn't got a face though!

The ice has been altered also, and now has a colourful mist over it, making it more realistic. The only gripe with this event is the music, which has a large dose of Amiga 'click'!

5. Ski Jump: Here you get shoved off an icy ramp, to see how far you will go. Quite a difficult event at first, but you soon get the hang of it.

6. Free Style Skating: This is the same as Figure Skating, but it has terrific music. Just listen to the violins at the end.

7. Bobsled: This event is the last, and quite frankly there is no difference between this and the C64. And it's just as much fun.

So, the general verdict is that the graphics are better than the original.

The tunes, although excellent, bar one, are all the same as the C64.

A very good game - but don't expect anything more than the C64 version, or you'll be disappointed.