Atari User


Winter Olympics

Author: Neils Reynolds
Publisher: Tynesoft
Machine: Atari 400/800/600XL/800XL/130XE

 
Published in Atari User #25

Winter Olympics

Winter Olympics from Tynesoft is another event compilation following on the heels of Summer Games, Winter Games, Decathlon and so on. There are five events - speed skating, ski slalom, ski jump, downhill and the Cresta Run bobsleigh.

Speed skating is a straight-line race against the clock. There is a computer controlled opponent in the top half of a split screen and, although this may help you pace the race, it would have added more to the game to have allowed a two player option. Movement is achieved by frenetic waggling of the joystick.

In the slalom event the scenery, consisting of a rather sparsely-wooded forest, scrolls smoothly upwards.

Winter Olympics

You steer your skier through gates marked by two poles, but hitting a pole incurs a time penalty and colliding with a tree means the end of the heat.

Next comes the ski jump. Accelerating down the slope, you press the fire button to jump, the aim being to leap as far as possible.

As in the speed skating event, how much you want to risk scrapping your joystick determines your terminal velocity.

Winter Olympics

The downhill race is virtually identical to the slalom. There are no gates to steer through, but some slight deviations in the course marked by trees.

The last event of Winter Olympics is the Cresta Run in which there are two views of the race.

One is a plan view of the whole course, by which you can see how far you have progressed. The second and smaller outlook is from behind the bobsleigh, looking down the ice tunnel.

This is poorly done - the graphics are blocky and over simplistic, and the movement jerky. Speed is gained by sledging as close as possible to the rim of the wall around the bends.

Winter Olympics sounds evocative of excitement, daring and great fun. Unfortunately, Tynesoft fails to deliver, as the individual games lack attention to detail and atmosphere.

Neils Reynolds

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