Orienteering Games for your PC


Catching Features from CatchingFeatures.com

By far the most realistic simulation of a sporting event. This game reproduces a complete A-meet with day-1 and day-2 courses, other competitors, wildlife, great maps, and wet creek crossings. The scenery is detailed with good terrain, various water features, and all kinds of vegeation. This level of complexity requires a fast, computer and lots of disk space. The download is 17 megabytes.

Oriantica and WinOL from Melin Software

Oriantica is very similar to 'Catching Features'. Both 'Oriantica' and 'Catching Features' can use OCAD maps to create simulations of real orienteering events. These programs are able to host competitions over the Internet.

WinOL is a good program overall, although less sophisticated than the others. The software controls are most intuitive, and therefore, make a good introduction for those unfamiliar with orienteering. WinOL is good fun, and it can be played on almost any machine. The small disk size means that you can carry around a copy and share it with your friends. The map quality is not quite as good as the previous program. The program does allow you to run through the scenery by holding down an arrow key. After a run, WinOL will replay your route choices on the map. A good review, but very embarrassing.