Why do I even bother trying to review these? Do I actually think I’ll find that one rare pot o’ gold game in the whole of the Olympics gaming that DOESN’T suck? Honestly, I should know better… yet I don’t. This is probably the only Winter Olympics game for the SEGA Genesis itself since the next one, the Nagano ‘98 Winter Olympics, is on next gen up Nintendo 64 (and probably the SEGA 32x which I suppose means it’s KINDA playable on the Genesis… if you consider it being played on a device shoved down the top end of the Genesis as being played “on” the Genesis of course), so that equates to me as this being the only one to speak of… and really after playing this I would think this is enough.
 
The usual lack of fanfare follows this outing as you once again find yourself with about a dozen or so nations, no real name brand athletes (though to be honest I wouldn’t know any of the athletes from THIS year’s Olympics, forget from way back in 1994), and a batch of lackluster games.
 
The largest batch are all downhill slalom, where you dodge between large or small flag posts to reach the bottom with the fastest time… (4 events in total cover this one game mechanic)… problem is though that the game situates the camera backwards (from the sky looking at the

Click to enlarge. We have 4 images

Image 1 of 4. Click to enlarge

slope rather than situated 3rd person shooter mode behind the athlete), making it almost impossible (short of repeated trial and error memorization of the flags on the slope) to NOT be disqualified, and believe me I tried endlessly without a single success on all four trials.
 
The second batch is the bobsled slash luge, which simply has you controlling a sled down the chute to the bottom. Now here the problem isn’t so much reaching the bottom as it is doing so in as quick a time as possible. Too loose in control it’s hard to make a clean run without constantly riding the sides… though to be honest you have to go out of your way to flip either the sled or luge as control is at least stable enough to allow for a at least flawed (but hazard free) ride. However getting to the bottom, even if you can shave off enough seconds to get just below a minute, seems to not be good enough for this game as the computer automatically gets an impossible time of 17 or so seconds on it’s gold medal run… HOW THE HECK!! Considering the run is at least a minute more or less there’s no way the top runner could get that short a time short of cheating… apparently this game doesn’t want you to be a winner… doesn’t that suck.
 
The last four events are

Click to enlarge. We have 4 images

Image 2 of 4. Click to enlarge

the most individualized events but nothing to write home about. There’s a fancy ski moguls which is nearly impossible to pull off ANY STUNTS! Even the slightest attempt to do any trick automatically equates into a crash which disqualifies you right out.
 
The cross country skiing and shooting, which sucks as while the skiing can be done practically automatically with no actual need for you to input into it, the shooting however… it’s as if the gun weights too heavily in your grasp and your constantly struggling to keep it aimed up otherwise gravity drags the gun down to a prone position which makes shooting the mark hard (not impossible as once you get the hang of bouncing the scope just right you can nail all targets on each board).
 
Speed skating, of which I can NOT get the hang of. Figuring out which buttons to push to make the skater race is one thing, figuring out how to beat the rubber band AI (which automatically snaps ahead every time you draw too close for comfort) is something else entirely.
 
And finally long distance ski jump… boring as heck, and again utterly impossible to gauge how to make a perfect jump (let alone a qualifying medal jump).
 
The theme this game seems to be the game’s reluctance to let you win, let alone place, in ANY event! Seemingly out to get you, the game is

Click to enlarge. We have 4 images

Image 3 of 4. Click to enlarge

unfathomable in terms of making a good time, let alone a time or a distance capable of garnering a medal of any color! And really, if the game is so hard and frustrating that you can’t even get a good decent placement in each event let alone win a medal then what’s the point of playing said game? Nobody needs to grind down on an Olympics game that is hellbent on making you lose every event you play (let alone drain all the fun out of said events by making them so hard to grasp, let alone master). Nostalgia aside, this game is an utter disaster of poor game design, a AI that insists on cheating to win, and an overall negative atmosphere that makes this game the antithesis of what a good Olympics game should be, mainly fun, challenging and capable of being won at with just that bit of elbow grease and hard work. So, no surprise here, but Lillehammer ‘94 Winter Olympics once again scores the lowest of the low, a seemingly industry standard 1 out of 5.
 

Not that I wouldn’t like Olympics games… if I found one that wasn’t such a pain to play. Show me a good Olympics game and I’ll praise it from end to end of the Olympics village… this, however, isn’t one of those noteworthy praiseworthy games… far from it. Better luck next time LOOC.