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HUNCHBACK
AT THE OLYMPICS
Software
Projects, £5.95 cass, joystick and keys
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O Dismal attempt at
joystick-waggling sports action |
This
is a conversion of an arcade game of the same name.
You may not have seen the arcade original, and after
viewing this reasonably accurate copy you'll know why.
It bombed.
The
original game was released to cash in on the sports
simulation boom caused by Konami's Track and Field.
Now released for the 64 after Decathlon, Summer
Games and Hesgames, it seems rather a pointless
exercise. Especially since it's a terribly inferior
example of the genre.
The idea is to go through eight events of a decathlon,
qualifying for each event by reaching a set standard.
You do this by either hammering at a key or moving the
joystick backwards and forwards as fast as you can.
The faster you do so, the faster the hunchback will
run, throw, or jump. In the field events you also have
to time a jump or throw at the right moment.
Hunchy
has to throw 17.74 metres to qualify
in the shot putt.
The
eight events are: 100m sprint, long jump, shot put,
discus, javelin, 110m hurdles, and high jump. Each one
requires a reasonable speed to qualify, although in
the field events the speed of run-up is rather erratically
judged: sometimes you have the maximum speed and perfect
angle of takeoff and you won't qualify.
Graphics
and animation are pretty appalling -- for example, none
of the things thrown follow a realistic trajectory.
Another laugh is at the long jump. Hunchy runs up to
the board, makes a little jump and sails along about
a foot off the ground on a perfectly horizontal plane
until he lands.
In
between screens, if you qualify, Esmerelda will come
and give you a great big smackerooni. If you don't qualify
there's an amusing screen where Hunchback is attacked
by something or other. The first time you see this it's
quite funny, the second time yawn, the third
aaagh and after that the temptation to reach for the
off switch is huge.
JR
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