Warm way to winter sports

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Winter Olympics is another of the several-games-in-one variety.

The first event to flash up on the screen is speed skating. In this you take your competitor along a 200 metre course as quickly as possible, while the computer operates a pace-making opponent above you.

You move your player by rapidly hammering the Z and X keys, while a clock ticks away at the base of the screen.

The second event is the ski jump which works like the first event in that the faster you hammer the keys the further you jump.

Event three is the ski slalom. You have to guide your skier down a slope, zig-zagging through the gates as quickly as possible.

Missing a gate or colliding with a flag costs you a 10 second penalty, and this makes for a challenging time. Even the most nimble-fingered will have trouble here.

Then comes downhill skiing. No gates this time, just a full pelt down the slope, trying to avoid the fir trees.

Event five is the bobsled, and the formidable Cresta Run. The course is mapped out on the right of the screen and in a box on the left is your view from the sled.

Gravity provides the acceleration here, and the Z and X keys are used as brakes. Too much and you lose a lot of speed; too little and you shoot out over the side of the run and into oblivion.

Lastly comes the Curling, which is probably the most disappointing event. The aim is to get your four stones as close as possible to the centre pin, while your opponent does the same.

Unfortunately there is no allowance for stones colliding. Thus it is impossible to knock a stone out of your way - you just stop short of it.

After a little practice it becomes quite easy to get the maximum 15 points and the event becomes an anti-climax.

One further drawback I should mention is that after events two, four and five the tape has to wind on to program the next events.

At the end, to have another game you need to wind the tape back to a point near the start.

Overall this is a nice little package and fun to play. The graphics are quite good, sound is used well and the BBC clock has never been so useful.

James Bibby