California Games....um....okay let's just get to the review.
STORY
California Games is about....games in California, ya that's right!
GAMEPLAY
There's a total of 5 events in the game with different gameplay, so I should just break it down instead of explaining it as a whole.
Half Pipe: Yup, skate boarding on a ramp. You'd think it would be fun but the controls are to unresponsive to do anything else but go up and down the ramp ( or fall if you like that ), you have a time limit and limited tries ( 3 falls ) so it's even harder to have fun with this event for long.
Foot Bag: Yes you heard right, foot bag, you kick a ball around without dropping it to gain as much points as possible. At least in this event you can kick the ball as much as you like ( as exciting as that sounds ) until time runs out. You can prolong the time you have left by trying to kick a clock that appears out of nowhere sometimes. The funny thing about this event is that half the time your guy looks like he's moonwalking ( imagine playing with 2-players O_O ).
Surfing: Probably the most boring of the events, you start out with a tidal wave chasing you and then get attacked by beach balls ( hey, don't ask me... ). To surf you have to constantly move the D-pad left and right, if you don't do this ALL the time then the tidal wave will catch up to you. You can also try to jump in the air with your board, but you either crash in the waves or get hit by the tidal wave ( wow, sounds like that tidal wave is causing a lot of trouble ).
Skating: Hmmm...sounds simple right? Wrong. While surfing may be the most boring, this event is the most hardest. You'd think skating on a sidewalk would be a real safe place, but everything in this event is a hazard. Everything here will make you fall down hard, from cracks on the floor, to puddles, to sand, to slippers and even the return of the attacking beach balls ( probably looking for revenge ). You get 5 chances ( 5 falls ) in here, so you better watch your step. The controls are the same as the surfing, left, right, left, right....over and over again. And to top it all off, this has one of the most hardest time limits in the game ( time flys by quick! ), making it the most hardest event to complete.
BMX: And this one earns the title of the most enjoyable of the bunch, but still hard. You must get to one side of the track to the other before time's up. With 3 tries you have to avoid obstacles like not falling ( duh... ) and logs. You can do tricks but you'll be guessing when to do them because of all the logs placed on the track.
GRAPHICS
Not all that eye catching cause of all the normal looking people and backgrounds. But enough to get you by.
SOUND/MUSIC
Very simple sound effects and music, nothing great.
REPLAYABILITY
Well it really depends, if you can get over some of the events control problems then you might be able to play it again some time.
BUY OR RENT
I would suggest renting the game but since it's old, that choice is out the window. If you can find it really cheap ( maybe a dime or something...lol ), then you might want to get it.
OVERALL
Not something you want to go crazy over, it's a decent game with decent events.
Overall Rating: 4/10