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This is the seasonal sequel to Summer Games II we've all been waiting for. If you're tired of pulling on the shorts and training shoes then this is the sports simulation for you. It's apres ski time out on the piste with your salopettes firmly zipped about you.

That said, what we have here is the seasonal equivalent of Summer Games II. Like its predecessor, it stands up as a superior sports simulation which necessitates the use of skill and good sense rather than the ability to ram your joystick from side to side.

As Summer Games II gives you the choice of nations and the chance to compete against someone else, so it is with Winter Games. World records and the opportunity to practise events may also be selected.

1. Ski Jump
   This is the one that looks suicidal when you see it on telly. Hit the fire button to send your skier careering down the icy slope and fire again to make him take off. If you forget, he falls off the end. This is fun so make him do it a few times anyway. When you're bored with that, make him jump and struggle to control him in the air as his skis wobble and his nose comes to rest on their ends. The faster you correct his problems, the further he goes and the more points he gets for style.
2. Biathlon
   This is the cross-country killer dominated by Finns and Russian snow troops. Strap on your skis and sling a rifle round your shoulder and yomp across the snow drifts. Get to know the terrain here. You go across two flat areas, down a hill, and up a hill. Don't waggle your joystick madly or you'll mark time on the spot. When you come to the targets your heart beat (indicated on the bottom right of the screen by a swelling red cupid symbol) causes the sights to woggle. Timing is essential to hit the targets. If you miss, you incur time penalties. Don't waste time either, though.
3. Hot Dog Aerials
   This is the kind of sport that gets ten minutes as a diversion on World of Sport Saturday. Basically, you do aerial acrobatics with a pair of skis on your legs. By moving your joystick, you can select a number of different jumps like the Daffy (in which you open your legs in mid-air!), Back Scratch (you kick yourself in the back of the neck - or something like that), Back Flip, Forward Flip, Swan and Mule Kick. You are subsequently marked out of ten for your efforts. The more difficult the manoeuvre, the higher you score. To score straight tens combine two moves, a difficult one and an easy one.
4. Bobsled
   This is the event where you hurtle down the ice like a bullet. Hit the fire button and you're away. Twenty-two seconds later (approximately) you'll have finished. It's not quite that easy because you have to slam the joystick hard over to steer against the bends. If you don't, the sled overturns and you'll be eating hospital food for months. For a really fast time, keep the joystick pushed forward, pulling back slows you right down.
5. Figure Skating
   This is the one-minute ice routine in which you have to complete an exercise of seven compulsoary movements. You control a graceful and well-built lady skater and put her through her program to some gentle music. Your dexterity with the joystick will largely dictate whether the lass flies through the air as if sh'e been thrown by Christopher Torvill or falls on her backside as if she's been body-checked by Big Daddy. The trick here is to realise that she will only perform some movements if she's pointing in the right direction. Good co-ordination between fire-button and stick direction are necessary to ensure that she doesn't get a very cold, er, reception.
6. Free Skating
   This involves the same moves as the figure skating, but you must put your own routine together. A two-minute display of choreographed artistry is what is required. The music is not Bolero. Try to get in at least three of each of the difficult moves like Tiple Axel and Double Lutz. Just running through them, though, won't get you sixes across the board.
7. Speed Skating
   This is a simple race against the machine or your opponent. Probably the closest thing to the boat and bicycle racing of Summer Games II. Again, you need to bear the simulation idea in your head. Waggling the joystick furiously will simply cause him to twitch like a dypsomaniac's eyebrows. A measured rhythm is needed to propel him along the ice. Accelerate carefully.

Winter Games is everything you might expect it to be if you've seen a copy of Summer Games II. The gameplay is better than most sports simulations could ever hope to be. The graphics, because of the alpine locations, look even better than its high season predecessor. My only grumble is the inclusion of two skating programs which becomes boring and repetitive. Why not a slalom event? Or the downhill, which would have been much more exciting than trying to do a John Curry. There's nothing quite as good as the javelin event either but that's just a personal favourite. If the mega buck grabbing compilations don't grab the Christmas number one spot, this must.