Review: 'Sports Jam' slams it all together

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By Tokyo Drifter

(IDG) -- Following the tradition of their decathlete series, Sega gives the genre a facelift by replacing Olympic-style events with conventional spectator sports.

"Sports Jam" packs in 12 events that range from a three-point basketball-shooting competition to football field-goal kicks. Although released and developed for the Dreamcast by Sega in Japan, Agetec has stepped in and is releasing the game in the United States.

The graphics look sharp overall, but events like the home run derby suffer so that others, such as the soccer shootouts, can shine.

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Aside from an announcer in between rounds, the audio is pretty standard sports fare and nothing special.

The controls strictly follow the simple methods employed by all track-and-field games -- meaning timed or repeated button presses and very little use of the directional pad. Thankfully, there are only two button-mashing events out of the total, making timing skills the core focus.

With many degrees of selectable difficulty, a wide variety of events, and the ability to customize your own tournament, "Sports Jam" offers lots of replay value and fun.