Caveman Ugh-Lympics, by Electronic Arts, is a humorous twist on the genre of Olympics games first pioneered by Epyx in Winter Games and Summer Games. Featuring six playable characters, six Prehistorified events inspired by the early years of man (as documented by Looney Tunes) and existing Olympic events, cartoonish graphics, synthesized grunts and sound effects, and varying control methods for each event.
Despite its less-than-serious approach to sporting events, the game was quite innovative for its time. The events: Mate Toss, Dino Race, Saber Race, Fire Making, Clubbing, and Dino Vault, each feature their own unique control style instead of the same wrist-busting controller-wiggling for each event, and can be practiced individually in (of course) Practice mode or all together in the Ugh-Lympics, which can support from one to four players with the empty slots taken over by the computer.
The game's menu and interface feature a carved, flat granite theme, with the occasional stick-figure or cartoon illustration. The playable characters, although not modeled to fit any racial stereotype, each represent a different continent and sport an amusing, if detailed, background, and when participating in the Ugh-Lympics can be sponsored by the player in name or in the name of a company you make up (it's a text field, use your imagination).
Four characters are strong in two of the six events, while one of them is a jack-of-all-trades and the best choice for beginning players and the remaining is, oddly enough, a spectacles-sporting poindexter type who holds no advantages in any event, obviously tailored for the expert player. Although the animation is for the most part choppy,
the characters and their hi-jinks are not without their charm; in true cartoon caveman fashion, most of the athletic equipment and ceremonial props are rocks and "trained" dinosaurs.
The game also features a Hall of Fame keeping best times and records on each event. I recommend playing this game with other people, as the computer AI is rather simple to beat in most events, and it also keeps the joke from getting ancient.
