Summer Games 2 is the sequel of the original Summer Games, which appeared shortly after the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. The competitions featured in Summer Games 2 include events such as the triple jump, equestrian, javelin, rowing, and fencing, high jump, cycling and kayaking.
The setup is essentially the same as in the original release, with up to 8 players being able to choose from 18 countries. Point totals are given for each medal conquered in an event, with gold fetching five, silver three and bronze one.
The game enables the end user to compete in all of the events sequentially, choose a few events, choose just one event, or practice an event. The most challenging event is the triple jump - timing is critical for the three key moves: the hop, the skip and the jump. The player only gets three chances (just like in the actual Olympics), so a lot of practice is highly recommended for this particular event The javelin event is also interesting, since it entails some extra skills and judgment (the angle of the launch is set by how long the joystick is held left, and good throws depend on the best combination of speed and angle).
The events are very realistic and they
do require some good hand-eye coordination to master (quite a few plays before one becomes a "pro" at an event). It takes a while to figure out the key moves for each of the competitions (for instance, for rowing, it's the rhythmic left and right motion with the joystick, whereas the javelin depends on how far one throttles the joystick to the left (in order to get the correct angle). Only the rowing and cycling can be thought of as requiring pure joystick-waggling. They are meant to simulate EXACTLY what happens in the actual Summer Olympics - the grading schemes, points, etc. are the same. The game even features a medal ceremony at the end of each event, with the anthems of the countries being played, which adds another dose of realism to the game.
The graphics are excellent, and take full advantage of the sprite capabilities of the Commodore 64 platform. Epyx (the game maker) gets full credit for putting together indeed a great game. One misses the good old days of the Commodore system and the countless hours of fun that a well designed game such as Summer Games II brought.
