Olympic Gold: Barcelona '92

The Good
The first game with the IOC license, a lot could go wrong with it, but didn't. Gameplay is exactly what could be expected from a button-masher, with some variations (notably swimming, which is a stamina-testing event). It is interesting to see how each one of the eight participating nations (USA, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Japan and the CIS) has their own set of athletes, and some are stronger than others. While you can expect the Americans to have the better times in sprinting events, the French take the lead in the hammer throw, the Italians in swimming and the CIS in pole vault. World Records can and will fall in the highest difficulty level, so training is required to compete at that level. Sounds include clips of the anthems of the participating nations and the usual effects, from hitting an hurdle to the white noise when a record is beaten. Everything is done quite well, same as the "workout" music going in-game.

The Bad
The game looks too much a 8-bit game. While there are six tracks (as opposed to only four in Olympic Summer Games), all athletes look exactly the same, except the players', which uses a white/red/blue gear instead of purple. While the locations are recognizable, the game simply overuses single-colour block, which just contributes to the poor impression of the graphics.

In other events, like the Pole Vault and Swimming get too easy as the player learns the trade, and making it to max height and clearing all max difficulty jumps (four 3.5 and one 2.9) with all scores above 9.0 is perfectly possible. Others, like the hammer throw, are as much talent as luck - with only two attempts, it's too easy to lose a medal over mistimed button presses.

The Bottom Line
Anyone who remembers the classic Epyx titles will recognize their touch here and there - after all, those classic titles were published by US Gold, and a few parts (like archery) were picked from their fantastic back catalog. Variety - a problem that affects many of these games, is not a problem here: There are two straight button mashing events (100m dash and 110m hurdles), two of mashing and control (pole vault and hammer throw), two without any mashing involved (archery and diving) and one that requires stamina (swimming).

While the dull graphics might upset some players, it does a much better job at giving that special "Olympics" feeling than Olympic Summer Games, which was released four years later.