3DO Games: Decathlon - PC Review - Gamecenter

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3DO Games: Decathlon
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CNET Gamecenter Review
By Hugh Falk
(2/27/1997)

Why are computer games superior to arcade games? Reason #114: more buttons.
Olympic simulations have had many incarnations over the years, including Activision's Decathlon on the dearly departed Atari 2600 and Epyx's Summer Games on the Commodore 64. However, the game that stands out in my mind is Konami's 1983 arcade release, Track and Field. The memory of slapping plastic buttons until my hands throbbed in pain is surprisingly fresh.
Which brings me to yet another facet of computer game superiority. In the arcades, the buttons would inevitably stop working due to the constant punishment, and players would reluctantly move on to the next cabinet. Sub-paragraph B of reason #114 states: "With an Olympic simulation, once you've destroyed 2 keys on your keyboard, you can simply reassign 2 of the other 100 keys."
man and machine
As you would expect, all ten events are represented in 3DO's Decathlon: 100-meter dash, 400-meter dash, long jump, shot put, high jump, 110-meter hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin, and 1500-meter run. Each event has smooth motion-capture graphics, and most have configurable camera angles. The fans in the stands are flatter than Atari Jaguar sales figures, but overall the graphics are well done. Athlete reactions can look odd at times, however. For example, when an athlete throws a javelin straight up and it only travels .09 inches, he still celebrates ecstatically. If he crosses the fault line, he does a dance that would make former Talking Head David Byrne proud.
Speaking of music, a country's national anthem is played when its athlete wins. It seems good in a heavily synthesized, "Once in a Lifetime" way, but don't ask me if it's authentic. The closest I've come to hearing Egypt's national anthem is in a New York City cab.
One of the more interesting additions to this Olympic game is the ability to roll an athlete's statistics: speed, strength, and stamina. The best decathletes must have a good balance of all three in order to be successful at every event. This almost gives Decathlon an element of role playing. However, contrary to the back of the box, there is no training mode to improve athletic ability. Players also have the ability to enter a password, which automatically sets their athlete's statistics. This cyberstealth comes off as annoying, because the manual doesn't list any good passwords, or reasons why you might want to use one.

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Decathlon

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