World Games


Title           World Games
Publisher       Epyx/US Gold
Game Type       Sport
Players         1-8
Compatibility   A500-A2000
HD Installable  No
Submission      Seppo Typpö (groucho@pp.inet.fi) Profiled Reviewer

Review
After having carved their name into gaming history with Summer Games I and
II, and Winter Games, Epyx decided to extend their expertise away from
traditional sports events. They collected eight exotic events from various
parts of the world, waved their magic sports game creation wand and hey
presto - the latest addition into their 'Games' family was born.

World Games has the following events - weight lifting, cliff diving,
barrel jumping, bull riding, log rolling, slalom skiing, the caber toss
and sumo wrestling. The games range from ordinary Olympic stuff like
weight lifting to the rather strange caber toss where the aim of the game
is to throw huge wooden telephone pole as far as possible. Each event is
presented with an information screen and a short tune from the country
which hosts that particular game.

The game has all the standard Epyx sports games features - options to
compete in a single event, a selected subset of events or the whole 'World
Games' with one to eight human players participating in the action.
Converted from the Commodore C64 version by Westwood (who later created
games like Dune II) the Amiga version retains all the playability of the
original but also inherits the somewhat cruddy gfx and sound effects.

Each event is controlled with joystick. Unlike many arcade sports games
World Games relies more on dexterity and timing that brute joystick
waggling force. This means each event offers some extra challenge as the
right moves and timing must be learnt if the player wants to succeed in
each event. Luckily the game offers a practice mode which allows the
player to hone their skills before entering the actual games.

Apart from a new set of events, World Games offers very little that is new
to seasoned Epyx sports games players. Epyx tried very hard not to break
their successful formula and this 'stagnation in design' is sometimes
glaringly visible in some of the events in the game.

For novice players World Games offers an interesting peek into Epyx sports
sims allthough I'd recommend the somewhat easier Summer Games series over
this for their first Epyx game. World Games is a slightly flawed
masterpiece which once again excels in the fabulous multi-player mode.



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