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                    Alpine Games - FUNtastic winter on your Lynx
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It was last year  when I visited the  Jagfest in Germany, as I could play Alpine
Games (AG) for the first time. I knew for myself that this game is a real gem, a
must-have beyond the Lynx games and it is only available for the Lynx!

A first look  on AG remebers  you of good  old wintergames  from Epyx on 7800 or
C-64, but  if you look closer you will see that there is no joypad-killing left-
right-left-right... game  control, but   a   system  which   makes  timing   and
coordination much more important than stupid torturing the game-pad.

You can select one  of seven characters, each with it's own background-story and
compete the 9 different competitions  with it.

Each game varies in gfx quality and gameplay, so I will look them all up for you
now:

Biathlon:
This game has a nice 2D landscape with parallax-scrolling and snow-fall effects.
The shooting-sequence  is also very nice made.
The gfx are very nice drawn, also they are not spectacular.
There is not  much sound to  hear in this subgame, but for example the digizised
reloading of the gun has a very high quality.
The gameplay is very nice, but with a little practice, the only way to gain time
is reloading the gun very fast and shoot quickly.

Snowboard Rush:
A nice and fast 3D downhill rush, where you just have to steer left or right and
pass the "gates" on the right side.
The gfx are realy fast and cool 3D, but also not much sound to hear. Gameplay is
real fun, it's simple but very addictive!

Freestyle Aerials:
You need the  right timing  for jumping point  and combination  of air-tricks to
achieve the highest points.
A nice and colorful game with smooth animations, all in nice-drawn 2D.
The laughter when you crash is a very funny thing ;)
Steering is not complicated, timing is the most important, all as it should be!

Speedskating:
A head-to-head  race against the Lynx. A very nice mirror-effect and very smooth
animations are the graphical highlights in this 2D game.
There is also  not much to hear... just to get  me right, this is not a critical
point, as if you do speedskating in the reality, you won't also hear much ;)
Gameplay  needs your  skills and  timing for pressing  in the right moment, very
good made, you can have good speedgames without killing your joypad!

Slalom:
This  is  my  favorite  subgame. You  see the  landscape  with a  nice  textured
snowground  from an overhead  view of  your skiier. Good  reflexes  are asked to
reach the finish-line without missing any goal.
Excellent fast (rendered?) graphics and a nice "swoosh" sound ;)
Controls are very simple: left, right and button to accelerate.

Bobsleigh:
A fine 3D subgame. It is  a bob with  two athlets which  you control down a fast
track.
The grafix are  fast and detailed, but  the contrast  isn't as it  should be, it
reminds you of STUN-runner.
Just steer left and right at the right moment to go as fast as possible.

Skijump:
Also a  nice competition. It  looks nice, controls  are excellent and sounds are
quite brillant, one of the best subgames!

Snowboard Halfpipe:
You go from  left to right  in the halfpipe and have to make a good stunt on the
other side... A  nice feature is  the screen-in-screen, where you see youself...
Controls are  very innovative: You  have to enter a special code for each stunt,
while a timer counts down, every time you reach an end of the halfpipe.
Nice 2D gfx and stunning sound makes this very addictive!

Figure Skating:
Feel like an ice-princess and make as difficult tricks as perfect as possible...
The controls are  similar to Snowboard Halfpipe. Nice  drawn graphics and smooth
animation  combined with  a nice reflection-effect  makes this  game a real good
one.

Conclusion:
Thinking about  that my Lynx is  now about  14 years old, I don't recognise this
when I play Alpine Games. It is really an up to date game for a still up to date
system! And with  a no limited edition and a price of about 35 EUR, it is a real
must have for every Lynxer, maybe even a reason to buy a "new" Lynx... maybe, if
enough people buy, there will be a summer-games clone, too?
Have fun!

                                                              Chris (Mac-Falcon)
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