Winter Games - Amiga - In-depth review with pics

 
Winter Games
Amiga, 1987 (Original C64 1985)
Epyx Inc

*Game designed and best played in NTSC mode with 4:3 aspect ratio
*Fast memory must be disabled to play game

In a dark corner of my parent's basement lied the Amiga. Shrouded in shadow due to a fish tank, file cabinets, and the computer's desk creating a wall of gaming. There were a few windows to the outside world, but they had been covered up with cardboard. Sunlight is not going to spoil this party. Towering above our Commodore monitor the desk housed stacks upon stacks of computer magazines. It was in these very magazines that I first laid eyes on Winter Games from Epyx. Several pages had been dedicated to the game, showing large screenshots. What amazing scenery, my young self thought.
^Options and opening ceremony

The magazine was as close as I got to the game back in the day, as we never got it for the Amiga. Epyx was a legendary company at the time, known primarily for their work on the Commodore 64. They released numerous well known games for the platform, a standard American add-on in the fast load cartridge, even some joysticks. I couldn't begin to list a most well known games list from Epyx, for there are far too many. Among the many games they made, there was a series of similar games released with a sports and olympic theme. There were a couple Summer Games, two California Games, a World Games, and the top selling of them all, Winter Games.
^Compute's Gazette magazine on Winter Games

The games in this series were varied but very similar in style. They featured multiple short games that were meant to be picked up and had fun with, yet challenging enough that you wouldn't immediately be good at the game. The difficulty in the games come from the controls. Looks at Winter Games and others in the series these days always tend to hark on the controls in an effort to make fun of the game. I don't particularly feel they deserve criticism for what are actual design choices.

I believe the designers of these games spent a considerable amount of time contemplating the controls. In Winter Games every single event alters the controls, and they are not intuitive. So what? It's really mostly a party game that you might want to bring along some friends to compete with. The controls are the way they are on purpose. The game features a wonderful manual which clearly states how the controls work, yet I only needed to consult this manual once for the figure skating event. All of the other events I figured out on my own quite quickly. I've played and beaten many hard games in my life, some of them requiring quite a commitment in time... Not Winter Games. If you can't figure out these controls, then you might just find gaming in general to be quite difficult. ^The "hot dog" event

I would definitely recommend a quality joystick, however. The Epyx Games series were well known for destroying many a joystick in their heyday. Gamepads just won't cut it with this game, and I guarantee you will destroy an Atari 2600 joystick with this game. A digital joystick with micro-switches is a must have. I use a Wico Ergostick, same joystick I've used on the Amiga since I was a kid. ^The Biathlon, my favorite event

In terms of the specific events, there's really not enough material to review them individually. That's not a bad thing. Some games are not meant to be deep, but they can still be a lot of fun. The oddly named "hot dog" event is all about quickly doing as many tricks in the air as you can before you land... If you land.. The backdrops show some incredible artistic beauty in terms of early Amiga landscapes. While the game originated on the Commodore 64, the Amiga port is by no means "lazy". Not only are there added colors on the Amiga, every single background has been altered from the original. Also added is scrolling screens for some events where the original had static screens. ^Speed skating and the ski jump

I find the biathlon to be the event with the most "meat". Besides this event, all the rest have a certain something you need to do. You figure out what the event is wanting from you, and from that point on you're probably going to get the exact same score. The biathlon, on the other hand, actually tests your gaming ability. The controls change several times inside of this one event. Being on level ground or going up a hill has one set of controls, where as going down the hill has another, and then you have to actually shoot load and shoot a gun as well. The better your reflexes are and the more you practice this event, the better you're going to get at it. It would be a great event to have a competition on because there's so many ways one can improve themselves, where as the other events all have a trick to them. ^Figure skating and free skating share the same screens

In my video review I took an opportunity to poke fun not at the game, but rather the people who review the game these days. On camera I attempted the speed skating event, where I started off struggling with the controls. However, before I had even finished that event I was able to figure out what they were wanting me to do. I tried the event again and I was able to beat the computer pacer. I don't really think figuring out this game makes me something special, but I would not be surprised if those who are making fun of it are either bad gamers or they are trying their best to find humor in the situation, and the only way they can do that is by pretending to be bad. Either way, please don't look at those reviews as anything but comedy. ^Bobsledding, winners, high scores

Figure skating and free skating were the events that required the most thought. Both of them share the same screen and controls. The difference is that figure skating requires an exact set of moves to be performed in one minutes time, where as free skating is kind of just doing your own thing inside of two minutes to fit with the music. Controlling the skater is going to require you read that section of the manual, otherwise your cute toosh is going to be hitting the ice. If you read from that manual and see what the controls are, you'll figure it out. I was able to get a 3.8 on free skating event, when the maximum score is 4. All thanks to power of reading! The manuals are all online, don't be lazy.

I found bob sledding to be the least interesting event because it was very easy to figure out and there didn't seem to be much I could do in order to get a faster time. Nevertheless it's fast and it's fun to control the bobsled around some very tight turns. The game itself is very fast and fun. I can't see anyone regretting spending some time with it. Add a second player and I'm sure it could be even more fun. Understanding the genre of a game goes a long way to properly reviewing it. Don't go into an RPG with a side scrolling mindset, don't go into a 1985 sports party game with a Civilization mindset. By 1989 Winter Games had sold over 250,000 copies, and just look at how many other games were in this series. This stuff is great when you're thinking in the right way.

Please check out my video review where I show off a special NTSC/PAL side by side comparison of the game. There were many Amiga games crafted for the North American market. Emulators default to PAL mode due to compatibility issues, but by doing so the NTSC designed games are cursed to be shown with stretched widescreen graphics when they should fill a 4:3 aspect ratio, as well as the overall game speed being slower in PAL mode. It might be an action game like this, or it might be a slow game like the previously mentioned Civilization. No matter the game you're going to save time being in the proper graphics mode. I find NTSC to be 10 seconds faster than PAL every minute, 1 minute faster every 6 minutes, and 10 minutes faster every hour. That's a lot of time you can save, and a lot of games that may no longer be critiqued for just being "too slow" on the Amiga. If played as designed they may not be so slow.

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