Daley Thompsons Olympic Challenge

Copyright : Ocean Software | Reviewed by : Malc Jennings

The big moustached olympic know it all is bag once again with a huge grin on his face after signing another deal with Ocean Software. This time our Daley is going to teach you how to train and win the Olympics right from your very own CPC, not that would be a neat trick wouldn?t it.

Why don?t the real athletes think of that?

Graphics

Ocean Software almost always put a great deal of time and effort into the Daley Thompson series and it?s no surprise that they have once again gone flat out on this stunning release.

Before you can proceed to the main events you must complete a set of training excercises (see screen grab 1) and all of these have a massively high level of detail and some of the best in-game animation we have ever seen on the CPC. For example during the situps you can actually see the ruffles forming in Daleys shirt as he lifts himself up and down again.

Plenty of mixed colours have been used throughout the game and training levels with a huge amount of detail going into almost every aspect of the game. Our character looks much fuller in the olympic games than in previous releases (see screen grab 2) and tiny details such as the stadium entrance have been added to give extra effect.

No serious bugs were found during our long playing time and it looks as if Ocean have done us proud once again.

Sound

The music is on the otherhand not quite as good as the previous releases. We are missing the well known olympic theme tune and listening to what sounds like some kid who got bored on day and tapped a few keys on a keyboard, worth a miss I would say. The in-game effects are not much better either, ranging from the occasional bang to a few light footsteps. Not bad but certainly not great.

Gameplay

Unlike the other Daley Thompson titles you are forced to endure a lovely set of training courses before entering the olympics, these will determine your strength and get you ready for the big event. Though it?s more likely to give your sore wrist joints and a broken joystick.

The training consists of : Weights, sit ups and squats. After completion you will be given a fitness score out of 100%.

The first and obvious course event is running, after all that training this is not an easy thing to do. You will also notice that if you don?t keep a steady, fluent rhythm going our Daley will just slide along the floor and eventually give up. Very annoying indeed and not something easily overcome by the end of all that training.

Olympic Challenge is not an easy game but great fun none the less and highly recommended by CPC Zone.