Is it possible to call a game a crazy piece of shit and have it come off as a compliment? I hope so, because I am here to tell you that I adore Justin Smith’s new title, Realistic Summer Sports Simulator (Universal), for being a crazy piece of shit. When video games get labeled as “funny” it’s typically because of the dialogue, or the characters. Rare is the video game that’s funny for its actual mechanics. Katamari Damacy and Wario Ware come to mind, and I would say RSSS is a cousin, or baby nephew, of those games. As the title clues, it’s a bit like that Nintendo game, World Class Track Meet. You know, the one where you stomped on that clunky Power Pad peripheral to perform long jumps and the like. With Track Meet, the gap between running in place in your socks and performing real track events comes off as inept and embarrassing. RSSS takes that gap and amps up the absurdity, making it the centerpiece of the game. In this way, it’s a lot like his previous title, Enviro-Bear, or the venerable QWOP, which delight in making a simple task immensely difficult. It’s the flip opposite of many games, which put the player in the position of someone with far more ability.  You’re given one mechanism, a bouncy fling maneuver, to execute all fourteen available sports. There’s no instructions, but the games are just close enough to their real counterparts to give you a sense of direction. Puzzling out how to play the games is at least half the fun. I don’t mean to characterize this game as a so-bad-it’s-good sort of thing. It’s quite the opposite: it’s witty, charming, and extremely polished. The art is perfect, and packed with great details throughout. It also has a local multiplayer option so you and your friends can goof your way through a competition, including a hilarious torch ceremony. Really, Realistic Summer Sports Simulator gets everything right. Where Enviro-Bear could be aggressively off-putting in its absurdity, I get the sense that RSSS will be perfect for groups of friends, and young kids, and me, by myself, late at night. — David
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Is it possible to call a game a crazy piece of shit and have it come off as a compliment? I hope so, because I am here to tell you that I adore Justin Smith’s new title, Realistic Summer Sports Simulator (Universal), for being a crazy piece of shit.

When video games get labeled as “funny” it’s typically because of the dialogue, or the characters. Rare is the video game that’s funny for its actual mechanics. Katamari Damacy and Wario Ware come to mind, and I would say RSSS is a cousin, or baby nephew, of those games.

As the title clues, it’s a bit like that Nintendo game, World Class Track Meet. You know, the one where you stomped on that clunky Power Pad peripheral to perform long jumps and the like. With Track Meet, the gap between running in place in your socks and performing real track events comes off as inept and embarrassing. RSSS takes that gap and amps up the absurdity, making it the centerpiece of the game.

In this way, it’s a lot like his previous title, Enviro-Bear, or the venerable QWOP, which delight in making a simple task immensely difficult. It’s the flip opposite of many games, which put the player in the position of someone with far more ability. 

You’re given one mechanism, a bouncy fling maneuver, to execute all fourteen available sports. There’s no instructions, but the games are just close enough to their real counterparts to give you a sense of direction. Puzzling out how to play the games is at least half the fun.

I don’t mean to characterize this game as a so-bad-it’s-good sort of thing. It’s quite the opposite: it’s witty, charming, and extremely polished. The art is perfect, and packed with great details throughout. It also has a local multiplayer option so you and your friends can goof your way through a competition, including a hilarious torch ceremony. Really, Realistic Summer Sports Simulator gets everything right. Where Enviro-Bear could be aggressively off-putting in its absurdity, I get the sense that RSSS will be perfect for groups of friends, and young kids, and me, by myself, late at night.

— David

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    On
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    I loved World Class Track Meet. I already love this.
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