Shoot & Splash is the second game in the Playman Sports series developed by Mr. Goodliving. The Olympic games concept proved a success in Summer Games, so there was definitely a market for a follow-up.
Mr. Goodliving made two major changes from Summer Games to Shoot & Splash: controls and events. Now you can compete in swimming, diving, archery, and shooting. In the swimming competition there is a small dial on the screen that has a spinning indicator on it. You are supposed to press 4 or 6 when the indicator reaches that number to gain speed. But beware: If you press the button too early or too late, you actually slow down. Although abstract, this method works really well. The faster you swim, the faster the indicator spins, making it that much harder to not screw up.
Diving is the easiest of the four events. It has an indicator too, but all you have to do is press 5 at the right time. The first three presses let you jump on the board; the fourth press lets you choose an angle to dive at. By contrast, archery is quite hard at first. You have a sight over a target that you move with 2, 4, 6, and 8, and then you fire with 5. This is difficult because your sight constantly draws toward the edges of the screen, and you have only limited time to take the shot. Shooting is quite straightforward, with two sights for buttons 4 and 6. There's no aiming involved; you simply have to fire the correct barrel when the disk is in sight.
You can compete in single events or in a tournament consisting of all four events. Shoot & Splash is a good single-player game due to the competitive aspect of setting and breaking your own records; however, just like in Summer Games, the multiplayer mode in Shoot & Splash is fantastic. You can have up to 10 different players participate in single events or a whole tournament. This hot-seat (hot-phone?) mode is much fun indeed, since you and your friends can basically hold your own Olympic games!
