Winter Olympic Games: Lillehammer 94

Maybe it's because I live in a state known for its rain, but I've always preferred the Winter Games over the Olympics' more popular Summer Games. There's something about the snow on the ground, the ice rinks and all of that curling that gets me in the mood for an international sports extravaganza. Who cares if everybody else prefers the sun and skimpy outfits found in the Summer Games, I'll be the guy that waves the torch for winter.

As it turns out, there's a practical reason why the Winter Games trump their summer counterpart. When it comes to their video game counterparts, the Winter Olympics are full of skiing and racing tournaments. In sharp contrast, Summer Olympic Games are packed with button mashing. Winter Olympic Games: Lillehammer 94 for the Sega Genesis is the perfect example of how to make a sports game without adding button mashing.


Let's pretend that you know how a game based on the Olympics is set up. You train and train and train, then compete against a series of fictional athletes from all across the world for gold, silver or bronze. Winter Olympic Games: Lillehammer 94 has ten different sports to train for, including downhill skiing, giant slalom, super G, slalom, bobsled, luge, freestyle moguls, ski jumping, biathlon and a short track race.

Even with ten sports, you'll find a lot of repeating mechanics from one event to the next. For example, giant slalom and regular slalom aren't radically different. Same goes for the bobsled and luge. That's good if you want to truly master every sport, but fans of variety will likely be bored by the sameness found in these different events.


Even if you understand how every sport works, this is a game that requires you to actually train before going for a medal. You can't simply start the full Olympics tour and expect to place, each sport has its own control quirks. There's a learning curve to these events, but there's an impressive amount of depth once you've mastered the ten different sports. Button mashing may be easier to pick up and play, but actually learning how to perform an impressive ski jump is more rewarding.

The graphics are solid, though you'll see too many repeating sprites. The scaling in the luge and bobsled portions are painful to look at, especially for gamers who grew up with Mode 7 on the Super NES. And while I'm complaining, I'm not a big fan of the camera angles. Too many of the events show you skiing towards the camera, which is disorienting.


There are a few modes to play through in Winter Olympic Games: Lillehammer 94, but nothing of substantial depth. This is a mini-game collection full of sports you mostly don't care about. This is a game that could have used a bit more variety and at least one event featuring curling. This isn't the train wreck most Olympic games are, but that doesn't mean you should rush out and pick up Winter Olympic Games: Lillehammer 94 by U.S. Gold.