Producer: Activision
Retail Price: £9.99

Birmingham has lost its bid again, so on a planet far away from their original home the Olympic Games take a galactic turn.

Competitors face five awesome events: the 100-metre slither, space hockey, psychic judo, head-throwing and the metamorph marathon.

In the 100-metre slither, two racing worms get set to speedily slide along the track, bunching their bodies in caterpillar motion. Pressing keys in the right rhythm keeps the intrepid invertebrates inching ahead, and to speed things up and beat the 70-second time limit they can go into 'super slither'. But too much rubbing on the ground creates a fierce friction, so flame-retardant slime must be deployed.

Once the worms have slimed their thing, space hockey starts, and two spheres battle over a living puck in four contests each a minute long.

Psychic judo involves two mindbenders who attempt to destroy each other with energy bolts squeezed from their stomachs. An energy bolt can be directed to avoid the defensive shields your opponent erects - the shields not only keep bolts at bay but also absorb their energy, so they're worth building if you can. Five minute-long rounds make for a gruelling contest.

There's a return to near-normality with the next event, head-throwing. The competitors here are a strange pair who enjoy removing their heads and throwing them as far as they can. They run down a small track and before reaching the foul throw line they must rip off their heads and pitch them into the distance.

Ideally, the alien cranium should travel upwards at as close to 45` as possible (the angle is shown onscreen) and extra propulsion can be achieved by flapping the ears of the head as it flies. But the head's nose must stick in the ground when it comes to rest, or it's a foul.

There are three throws per contest and the longest throw wins.

Heads are screwed on tightly for the final fantastic event, the metamorph marathon. During this race one of five forms - runner, burrower, jumper, flyer or 'rest state' - can be adopted to suit the terrain, but controlling your speed is crucial, particularly when you're a flyer.

And after this all you'll need is a relaxing Radox bath.

COMMENTS

Joysticks: Sinclair
Graphics: many original aliens with humourous animation
Sound: limited spot effects and a few short tunes

The originality of sports like head-throwing is one of the strong points of Galactic Games, and the bother of multiloading makes them no less addictive or fun. All the galactic games are visually attractive, and most are very playable. And though none stands out, the range is wide, including very hard head-to-head contests, fast, simple action and slow methodical events.
PAUL [76%]

This is a cute little game with bright characters and some taxing events; some are drawn out for too long but you'll eventually be hooked. The graphics are well-defined and the shading is excellent in some events. Galactic Games is a fun buy for fans of the old Daley Thompson's Decathlon.
NICK [54%]

Never before has such humour bounced around the Spectrum - or such aggravation. The graphics are bold, colourful and clear, but the sound is minimal (so I wonder why every event has its own loader - I'm sure two, at least, could share the same ROM). There's no way to bypass an event you don't like, and because all the rules are alien the controls could take some getting used to here on Earth. Still, it's a mixture of good clean fun and frustration, without the ultra-competitiveness of so many games today.
BYM [84%]

Activision
£7.99
Reviewer: Pete Shaw

Held every 0.00002 of a galactic revolution, the Galactic Games are the universe's most bizarre yet challenging of sporting events.

For instance, how are you at the 100m slither where you have to control the amount of slime you expire to the precise dollop if you want to finish the race without exploding? And that's before you even think of winning!

In Space Hockey you and your opponent battle to push the puck into the black holes at either end of the play area. Simple enough, but your puck is actually a living object as well, so obviously it does it's fair best to stay alive! Also bear in mind that since the goal areas are black holes you may find your good self going for an early bath too.

Head Throwing is always good for a giggle. First of all both players make a mad run for the throwing line, as the faster they run the further the throw. At the line, the action of pressing fire rotates the player's head from the horizontal to the vertical You need to release the fire button when your head reaches about 45° to get maximum lift. But that's not all. Once your head is in flight, waggling your ears can also give you prolonged lift!

The longest of the events, the Metamorph Marathon takes all your stamina, plus shapes (!) to complete. In each stretch of the course you have to change your shape into a Runner, Burrower, Jumper or Flyer.

The only disappointing event in the games is the Psychic Judo, or maybe this is because I didn't get the joke? Each player belches psychic energy at each other in order to win. You can also store your opponents energy by putting up your shields as the bolt attacks.

The graphics in Galactic Games are pretty good, not da Vinci, 'tis true, but they're cartoony and fun. The sound ain't Jean Michel Jarre, but this game don't need that. It's got everything it needs to satisfy a games player with a sense of humour.

Label: Activision
Author: Tigress Designs
Price: £9.99
Memory: 48K/128K
Joystick: various
Reviewer: Timothy Closs

OK, so it's a multi-event game. All right, so it's a multi-load multi-event game, but Galactic Games tries very hard to be different. It's basically the ancient Olympic events idea exhumed and turned into a comedy. There are five events, played against the computer or an opponent, each one struggling to be the silliest game idea of all.

Each event is preceded by a piece of text, presented by Harry, your friendly flying eyeball. A nice touch, but after a while the puns begin to irritate.

The 100m slither is ridiculous. Two undulating worms battle it out for the finishing line whilst regulating slime excretion levels and body temperature. Hmmm. It's fast, the animation is very funny, but it's not as easy as it sounds (and it doesn't sound very easy, does it?!)

Coming up hard on slither's heels, it's hockey time folks, with eyeballs for players, black holes for goals and a living, breathing puck who doesn't like being pushed around. The characters are all lovingly animated, especially Mr Puck! The playing area scrolls, and it's easy to lose yourself off the edge of the screen. Very silly, and just as difficult to control as the worms.

Psychic Judo is a bit of a let down. In a flurry of silly ideas the gameplay seems to have been left behind. Two windows show opponent's eye views of the players, and each tries to destroy the other by firing little thingies. (Not quite sure what they are, thingies is as close a description as I can get). The graphics are boring, and it's all so fast that it's too often a case of the "what-was-that-noise-oh-dear-I-seem-to-have-died" syndrome."... The two players, whose over-developed brains are located in their stomachs, belch bolts of psychic energy at each other and defend themselves with mental shields..." I rest my case.

If you're looking for a completely silly idea, what better than Head Throwing? This time we've dispensed with complex technicalities and reverted to that old favourite, the "who can throw their head the farthest" contest. Get a good run-up, angle the head properly and go for it. Frantic ear flapping gives extra height, and the head must be tipped forward for a nasal touchdown. After a throw, the body runs off to put its head back on. The graphics are chunky, but large and, again, well animated. This is the best of the bunch - it involves the most skill, and has got to be the funniest.

Finally, how about a Metamorph Marathon? A flipscreen terrain must be negotiated in a race against the clock. Luckily, being a metamorph, you can mutate into one of four beings to aid your plight; runner, burrower, jumper or flyer. Running and flying requires a bit of wicked joystick waggling, whilst jumping is a more skilled affair. The characters are nice, but sadly, backgrounds are very dull and I soon lost interest.

It's obvious that a lot of time and effort has been put into Galactic Games. It's well programmed, excellently presented and has a lot of well thought out, original ideas. However, as with many comparable games, there's simply not enough action to hold your interest, with short bursts of play interrupted by long delays.

Heads fly at Activision.

HERE'S a novel variation on an old theme. It's a sports simulation broken down into five events including: 100m slither, space hockey, head throwing, psychic judo, and the metamorph marathon.

It's a nice idea that unfortunately just doesn't work too well; the games are simple, unexciting and tedious to play. Graphics are very straightforward with little detail and the sound is certainly nothing to crow about. Try before you buy.

Reviewer: Andy Smith

RELEASE BOX
C64/128, £9.99cs, £14.99dk, Imminent
Spec, £9.99cs, Out Now
Ams, £9.99cs, Imminent

Predicted Interest Curve

1 min: 60/100
1 hour: 55/100
1 day: 40/100
1 week: 20/100
1 month: 0/100
1 year: 0/100