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Over a year ago there was an event in Seoul called the Olympics. Epyx decided to release another in their line of sporting games to coincide with them. Unfortunately the ST version missed the Olympics, but it still looks like it was worth the wait.

Summer Games has eight events: hammer throwing, archery, bicycle racing, pole vault, hurdles, diving, parallel bars and rings.

Most of the events are made entertaining by some amusing oddities. Hammer throwing, for example, can go hopelessly wrong: you can get battered in the head by the hammer, fly off the screen for not letting go, throw the hammer through the monitor or toss it through the protective fence.

Archery is another event with silliness thrown into an otherwise ordinary hit-the-target-with-a-pointy-stick game. The odd bits emerge when you hit the bull or shoot over or under the target. A bullseye sends a bunny hopping across the screen, a myopic mole pops up when you shoot low and a birdy bits the dust if you overshoot.

The Hurdles is simple enough although lots of waggling and jumping is essential to complete the event. Falling over once is enough to get you out of the race.

If you're into water, you can go diving. Board tension may be adjusted before you leap and there are options for front or back dives. Judges award points in five categories to give an overall rating.

Pole vaulting is great but you need to make sure you don't bash your head on the crossbar as you pass over.

Cycling is the last outdoor event. You race against a computer opponent, pedalling like mad. But keep track of your energy or you'll burn out too quick.

Parallel bars are first on the gymnastics front. You must swing from bar to bar doing lots of daft manoeuvres. A help feature and demo mode make things easier.

Finally, there are the rings, which require lots of waggling, faster waggling being needed for more strenuous activities. Points are awarded for style and content.

The graphics are all beautifully animated and the mole in the archery is particularly good. Colour is well used throughout all events. Tunes are included for all 24 countries taking part in the games and each event has its own tune.

Sporting sims have been around for a very long time and they just get better and better. The Epyx games have always managed to mix pure waggle with some skill to produce games that anyone can master eventually - and Summer Edition has the mix just right.

The only really bad point to the game is the amount of disk swapping necessary to play through a series of events.

Humour only occasionally creeps into most sporting sims. But Summer Edition raises a smile for almost every occurrence. These humorous asides don't add any thing to the gameplay, but they certainly make it much more fun.