California Games


Title           California Games
Publisher       Epyx (US Gold MegaSports compilation)
Game Type       Sport
Players         1-8
Compatibility   Not AGA
HD Installable  No
Submission      Seppo Typpö (groucho@pp.inet.fi) Profiled Reviewer

Review
After successful Summer, Winter and World Games series Epyx decided to
produce a 'different' sports sim. Using the tried and tested 'Games'
formula they put together six sport events more akin to Venice Beach than
Olympic stadium. California Games was born.

The exotic events in this game include half pipe skateboarding, foot bag,
roller skating, BMX bike racing, flying disk (frisbee) and surfing. I am
not going to explain what kind of events these are, let's just say most of
them revolve around making various cool stunts and tricks instead of pure
head2head challenges. As such they are hard to master and provide
considerable challenge to even a seasoned player.

The usual Epyx features are present in California Games; single and
multiplayer modes, the complex control methods for various events which
rely more on exact timing than brute joystick waggling, and humorous
animations appearing from time to time to surprise the player.

The graphics in CG are propably the best Epyx ever made in 'Games' series
and the music is not that dreadful stuff either. The gameplay excels in
multiplayer mode but even single player can have lots of fun while trying
to master the events.

Open-minded players will find California Games a fresh change from the
normal sports sims. The more narrow-minded will probably sneer at the
light-hearted, laid-back Californian atmosphere the games oozes and will
continue playing the more traditional 'Games' series. Still, California
Games is an excellent addition to classic Epyx sports games and is a good
conversion from the Commodore 64 original.



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