Commodore User


Supersports

Author: Ken McMahon
Publisher: Gremlin
Machine: Commodore 64

 
Published in Commodore User #64

Supersports

Anything subtitled the 'Olympic Challenge' which bursts on the scene a mere four months after the event deserves to be treated with derision if you ask me.

Supersports is a nothing new multi-load sports sim featuring target shooting, karate slate smashing, crossbow, driving and, would you believe it, an underwater assault course. Unless they've come up with some new events for the Pentathlon, quite what all this has to do with the Olympics beats me.

Despite all that, the game is actually quite well presented. Each event is introduced by an NBC big mouth commentator who, as well as providing running commentary on the events, prompts players to take their positions and so on.

Supersports

First event is crack shot, a sort of shooting gallery really. What more can I say? Targets pop up here and there, bottles and cans go flying across the screen, and you have to blast as much as you can inside a minute. It would be hard to make this kind of thing completely dull, and the graphics are good, as are the sound effects.

Dare Devil Dive is a bit of a duffer. The higher you climb up the diving board ladder, the more difficult it is to keep on course for the tiny tub of water at the bottom. This is more like a circus act than an Olympic event. On the way down, you can gain extra points with a series of twists and tumbles, but this makes it harder to stay on course for the bucket. Five biased judges award makes for daring, accuracy and style.

In Slate Smash, two sumo wrestlers hold up roof tiles for you to kick and punch to bits.

Supersports

Cross Bow involves waggling your joystick to get some tension in that bowstring, then letting rip at the target, taking gravity and wind into account. The anemometer at the bottom of the screen is a cute touch. You have just over a minute to let loose with half a dozen arrows, which is tough going.

Underwater Assault Course is a bit of a joke. You must swim to the end of the course before running out of oxygen. You must also pick up a few gold medallions and swim through some tyres on the way whilst avoiding a poisonous jellyfish or two. It might sound exciting, but it's all a bit feeble really.

That goes for the whole thing really. If you really want a witty multi-game olympic sports sim, there are better ones than this around - Caveman Ugh-Limpics for one.

Ken McMahon

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