Crash


World Games
By U. S. Gold
Spectrum 48K/128K

 
Published in Crash #40

World Games

Now's your chance to be a sporting superhero by taking part in eight international events, representing one of 18 countries. You decide how many events to participate in, and results are checked against the world record by selecting the appropriate option. The eight events are...

1. Russian Weightlifting - Competition is in two classes, the 'snatch ' and 'clean and jerk.' Three lifts are made in each, followed by a judges assessment. The lifter who raises the greatest weight wins the contest.

2. German Barrel Jumping - A pre-selected number of barrels stretches across an ice rink. Competitors skate towards them, using their timing and skill to clear them with a mighty leap. Whoever clears the most is the winner.

World Games

3. Mexican Cliff Diving - Here you choose the height from which to dive from the cliffs of Acapulco. The wind speed affecting each dive is shown by an arrow's length at the top of the screen, and points are scored for style and height.

4. French Slalom Skiing - A series of flags run down a snow covered hillside. Good reflexes, agility and precision are used to ski through these in the quickest time possible. A five second penalty is added for hitting a gate, whilst a fail results in disqualification.

5. Canadian Log Rolling - Here you have to stay balanced on a floating log which is being rotated in either direction by the feet of a lumberjack. Three attempts are allowed to complete the event, the last lumberjack to stay on the log is the winner.

6. American Bull Riding - Holding on by a piece of rope, you must stay on the back of a spinning bull for eight seconds. Points are scored for style, with the length of your rope and the unpleasantness of your chosen bull taken into account.

7. Scottish Caber Tossing - Here a small tree-trunk is lifted and thrown. The caber must flip over after it has been thrown, and the furthest throw wins.

8. Japanese Sumo Wrestling - Taking the part of an obese oriental matman, you attempt to force your opponent out of a tiny ring. The contest's length and the reaction time of combatants determines the score.

The Grand Champion of these World Games is chosen on the basis of five points for each gold medal received, three points for silver and a single point for bronze.

Comments

Control keys: definable
Joystick: Kempston, Interface 2, Cursor
Use of colour: adequate for the job
Graphics: uneven in quality from event to event
Sound: meagre spot FX
Skill levels: vary between events
Screens: eight events

Gareth

'I'm not as impressed with this as I was with its predecessor - especially because of the ridiculous wait between events. The graphics and animation are quite good, and colour clashes have been kept to a minimum. The backgrounds seem very similar though, they look as if they were thrown together at the last minute. As far as playability goes, it's great fun! Especially if you get some friends in to compete against, which makes the joy of winning even more.'

Mike

'I've waited along time for some sort of follow-up to Winter games, as we never saw any of the Summer Games on the Spectrum -so this is it... The graphics are very nice, but I felt it was a little bit annoying having to load the events in one by one, especially as they were able to load half of them at the same time on the predecessor. This is one of the better sports sims available, and I reckon that for the price, the amount of playability and lastability you gat are matched just about right. Worth looking at.'

Paul

'I'm sorry to say that World Games is not as good as Winter Games. The graphics don't look as realistic and there's not a tune to be heard anywhere. It seems like an eternity waiting for each game to load, and when it does it isn't really worth the wait. The controls make you feel as if you are using a computer and not actually playing a sport. Perhaps the next one in the series will bring back some realism to the games.'

Gareth Adams, Paul Sumner, Mike Dunn

Other Spectrum 48K/128K/+2 Game Reviews By Gareth Adams, Paul Sumner, Mike Dunn


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