Originally Winter Olympiad '88, this Tynesoft release was reviewd on the same spread
as Galactic Games back in Issue 34. Both are heavily multiload with five events
which can be played singularly or all together.
However Tynesoft's events are a lot less bizarre. Event One is the Ski Jump
which uses two screen, the first showing the skier descending the jump (press
fire to leap) and the second showing (hopefully) his safe landing with skis held
together and dipping just before impact. It's familiar stuff, but dull to play with finicky control on the skis.
Event Two isn't much better, although graphically ambitious with your skier making
his way through a 3-D forest, jumping logs and dodging trees. Unfortunately it's
too slow with overly sluggish controls.
The Biathlon also has attractive graphics, with some nice animation on background
screens as you ski past (although the flickscreen is a shame). By rhythmic waggling
you finally get to the shooting range with a cursor bouncing up and down - press
fire at the right time to get a hit.
Sadly the waggling doesn't work too well, and repeating the course four times makes
it ultimately tedious. The Slalom is an improvement, a diagonally scrolling event
with a very impressive start screen and reasonable playability.
The final event is the Bob Sled, with you controlling the vehicle in question
as it hurtles into the screen with an alarming tendenct to overturn on the mildest
corners.
In retrospect the original mark of 53% seems amazing, with both reviewers pointing
out the superiority of Epyx's Winter Games and the numbing lack of addiction in this
graphically attractive, but shallow game. Presentation screens are dire and
loading seems to take forever (although Epyx games suffer from that too).
Overall, distinctly snowbound.