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Winter Heat
Winter Heat comes out just in time for the whole Nagano craze. I think AM3 made Winter Heat, but I'm not 100% sure. All I know is that the makers of Decathlete created this game and I'm sure glad they did. The only sport missing is curling, but who likes curling anyway? It's like an olympic shuffleboard, so who cares. For all those who asked for a sequel to Decathlete here it is. The original 6 in Decathlete return including 2 new ones. After playing all the Winter Olympic games so far I think Winter Heat is the BEST. Konami's Nagano games all had very poor control. Also, most of Nagano's events are very dull and boring. The events themselves are very exciting they only reason they are boring is they way Konami made them. There are 11 events in Winter Heat. The first in SPEED SKIING in which all you do is race to the bottom the fastest. SLALOM is where you race knocking poles down. Probably the hardest is AERIAL SKIING. In this event you choose a stunt and perform. ENDURANCE SKIING would probably be the toughest after aerial skiing. You have to race a very long course conserving enough energy to keep skiing. SKELETON is exactly like luge except instead of being feet first you're head first on a sled. BOBSLED is my personal fave. It is only 2-man bobsled and your brakeman is a cpu. There are 2 types of SPEED SKATING, short and long track. On short track there are four skaters and there are no boundaries. On the long track there are only 2 skaters are you skate in lanes. SNOWBOARDING is definitely the coolest. This is not freestyle snowboarding. This is a mix of alpine and halfpipe. The are about 50 gates and 3 jumps for you to perform stunts. DOWNHILL SKIING is exactly like snowboarding except that there are no gates and you can't perform any stunts on the jumps. GRAPHICS: These graphics are the best I've seen on the Saturn so far. The details are amazing like the shadows on the ice rink or the snow. The camera angles are simply stunning. Even the camera angles on the four player games you'll still be able to see yourself and won't be left behind. Even the characters have 3 different winning poses and 3 different poses for when they lose. My only gripe with the poses, they don't open their mouths when they talk. The background and scenery are magnificent. There is so much to be awed by and see. Most of the objects are 3-D, but some are 2-D. Too bad you're having too much fun playing to pay attention to it. As with most games there are some graphical promblems, BUT thankfully there is only one and it occurs at only one point during the game. While your character is celebrating their arm, hand, or leg starts to be glithcy. Other than that the graphics are suberb. SOUND/MUSIC: The sound is almost perfect. They get every sound effect right for every event even for the crashes and falls. The only time the sound is perfect is when the character says something. Sometime it is muffled and you can't hear it clearly. It doesn't happen very often, though. I can't say much about the music since there is none except for when you're doing the endurance skiing when they play that corny music which I can best describe as when to lovers unite and they slow it down when they run and the only other time they play music is when you complete a event. CONTROL/GAMEPLAY: The control is perfect. There isn't anything I change about it. Even though the control may seem complicated they are very simple. Before each event there is a tutorial explaining the control making so simple a 7 year old could play. The best part it's explained with pictures and everything! The gameplay is awesome! I couldn't ask for more. There are 2 four player at the sametime events. They are speedskating short track and endurance skiing. The events that are 2 or 4 player at the sametime are snowboarding, downhill skiing, aerial skiing, skeleton, and bobsled. There are 3 modes in Winter Heat. The first is 11 event Heat. In this mode you just play. The second is Arcade is which you have to qualify by a certain amount of points, distance, etc. The third is custom heat. It says make your own competetion, but I haven't really explored that one yet because I've been having so much fun with the first two. REPLAY: This game offers tremoudous replay value. 11 kick-butt events, fun characters, great graphics, tight control, and most importantly fun! Even though it's great alone it's better with 2 or 3 friends. So get a mutlitap some extra controllers and feel the HEAT! RECOMMENDATION:If you're looking for a fun, exciting Winter Olympic game look no further than Sega's Winter Heat. Too bad all of Sega's best games come out for a almost dead system.
GRAPHICS:4/5
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