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Opening with Kingsmen's 'Louie Loie' backing the credits, the Amiga update of the C64 blockbuster is as Californian as a year round sun tan. It may not be the best of the hundred and fifty so versions of the song recorded, but it's the thought that counts.

No new sports have been added to the original eight bit format, so the gameplay remains virtually untouched. You can skate in the half-pipe, juggle with the foot bag, "shred the tube" (which is surfing, to all us pasty faced Brits), roller skate, BMX race and (whoopee) play flying disc - better known as Frisbee. You can take them on individually, or you can submit yourself the strains of a sun-drenched sexthalon (that means six events, by the way).

Some of the events are as completely trivial as only the Americans could possibly manage. Frisbee involves you in launching the disc and then trying to position your catcher underneath it. A bit bleeding easy if I do say so myself...

Foot bag is, surprisingly, more fun. All sorts of combinations of tricks are possible. Wonderfully exotic stunts like the Horseshoe and the half axle, which basically consist of booting the bag up in the air a couple of times with different feet. If I really wanted to play foot bag I would stagger out in my spacious garden, not spend £25 on a simulation.

By far the best sports here are the BMX racing and the surfing. The BMX track effortlessly scrolls over a variety of different jumps and obstacles and each time you crash your rider lets out a painful little squeal - especially the time he got impaled on a cactus - and a comforting message appears like, "Chill Out" or "You Ate It!" which winds me up no end. Likewise on a surf wipeout, a little shark sometimes appears to the strains of the Jaws' theme.

The stunts you can perform here, if you're sufficiently adept, are moderately satisfying, but there's still not a lot to sustain interest. There's only so much your imagination can do with a dirt track.

As you'd expect, the graphics on this Amiga version are considerably improved, but all you seem to be paying for is a bit of improved resolution and a couple of extra stunts listed as Footbag. I managed an Axle Foley, but I can't tell you what it is because the instruction guide isn't kind enough.

Californian Games is a good laugh, it was ideally suited to the C64 but the Amiga can't make much more of it. To buy this sports sim you'd either have to be a relative of The Beach Boys, or just simply very rich.