.FLYINGHEAD PRODUCT REVIEW
.TITLE Get in the Olympic spirit with Crazy Athletics II
.AUTHOR James Booth
.SUMMARY Back in the April issue, Senior Technical Editor James Booth reviewed v1.5 of Crazy Olympics from Crazysoft. Since that time, the program has been renamed Crazy Athletics, and v2.0 has been released to coincide with the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. We take a look to see if it wins the gold.
.OTHER
Back in the April issue of Computing Unplugged, I covered v1.5 of Crazy Olympics from Crazysoft (see http://www.computingunplugged.com/issues/issue200404/00001271001.html). Since that time, the program has been renamed Crazy Athletics, and v2.0 has been released to coincide with the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.
The release of Crazy Athletic II brings MAJOR upgrades to the game. It is, in essence, a whole new game, and that’s why I feel it warrants updated coverage.
.H1 The old
To recap, Crazy Athletics is a fully animated track and field game for the Palm platform. The previous version featured five events, 100m running, 100m hurdles, javelin, long jump, and hammer throw. I’m not going to rehash these events because nothing with them has changed. You can see screen shots of these events in Figure A. For more information on them, please see my previous review.
.FIGPAIR A The five events from the original Crazy Athletics.
The gist of the game was that you could compete in these five events, either singly, or in the Crazy Olympics series. That was essentially the essence of the game, and although fun, its replay value was somewhat limited.
All that has changed with Crazy Athletics II.
.BREAK_EMAIL Want to know what’s new? Tap your mouse here and read the rest.
.H1 What’s new?
First up, and one of the most important for me, is full support for the larger screen, vibration effects, and joystick of the Zodiac. A new event, 100m swimming, shown in Figure B, has also been added to Crazy Athletics, bringing the total events to six.
.FIGPAIR B 100m swimming is new to Crazy Athletics.
The Arcade play of the original version, wherein you can play any single event, or all in series, is still available, but the heart of Crazy Athletics II is the new Champion mode of play.
By far, the biggest improvement to Crazy Athletics is the addition of that second mode of play. In effect, this makes Crazy Athletics an entirely new game.
.H1 Champion play
In Champion play, you start with a weak, generic, standard athlete and take complete control over his training and career.
Your athlete has five attributes, arms, legs, jump, breath, and extras, shown in Figure C, that you’ll have to build up in order for him to grow stronger and develop.
.FIGPAIR C Build your athlete’s attributes to advance.
.H1 No pain, no gain
In order to build up, you have to feel the burn. There are two ways to increase your attributes: to train, and to purchase upgrades.
Training is the cheapest method; it’s free. You merely pick an event, do your best, and hope you beat the required score. If you do, the attributes pertinent to that event will go up a point, as shown in Figure D.
.FIGPAIR D Train to raise your athlete’s attributes.
The other way to increase your attributes is to buy upgrades. Figure E shows the upgrades you can purchase. Vitamins, protein drinks, injections, and better equipment, like shoes and clothes, as well as extras not necessarily approved by the International Olympic Committee, like good luck charms, can be purchased to increase performance.
.FIGPAIR E You can purchase upgrades for your athlete.
Purchases cost money though. In order to earn the money for these items, you’ll have to compete in events, like that shown in Figure F. If you win, you’ll earn the dough. Compete in enough events, save up the prize money, and you can give your performance a tremendous boost.
.FIGPAIR F Enter competitions to earn money for upgrades.
The further your athlete advances, the higher the prizes become, and the more difficult it is to meet the training and prize criteria.
.H1 The final score
Crazy Athletics II is a dramatic improvement over the original. The addition of Champion play gives the game unlimited repeat play and deeper game interaction.
In my previous coverage, I expressed concern over the repetitive button-pushing method of play. This new version though has been optimized for the Zodiac, which was designed for just this type of use, so I don’t see it as much of an issue on that platform.
I give Crazy Athletics II from Crazysoft 4 out of 5. I’d really like to give it a 5, but there’s one small thing I’d like to see on a future update: the ability to configure the buttons. The Zodiac is an ideal platform for this game because of its non-standard button configuration, and I’d like to take advantage of that by being able to use the shoulder triggers.
Crazy Athletics is still crazy good fun, but now even more so. Before, it was a nice diversion, full of nostalgia that took me back to the 80s arcades of my youth. Now, its one of those "can’t put it down" games. With the 2006 Winter Olympics still two years off, I would love to see a Crazy Athletics Winter Edition to tide me over until the real games are played in Turin.
If you’ll excuse me now, I need to soak my hand in some ice. I’ve played so much I think I’m working up a good case of carpal tunnel.
.RATING 4
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 Product availability and resources
For more information on Crazy Athletics II, visit http://www.crazysoft.gr/olympics.htm.
For more information on the Tapwave Zodiac, visit http://www.tapwave.com.
.END_SIDEBAR
.BIO
