Okay so lets step back a few years, a game on Playstation2 was released and it was Athens 2004 olympics. Now i’ve had mixed experience with sporting games like these, winter games etc. Some have been really poor, like winter olympics on the Gamecube. But i have to say that Athens was really quite fun.
It had plenty of events, and they were easy enough to play and get hooked on. Multiplayer definitely made it more interesting as competing against your friends is for bragging rights!
So my gf Stacey and I got stuck into the game and were very competitive about it. We tried our hardest in every event, and eventually ended up with blisters on our hands from either scratching across buttons A and B to get fast running speeds, or from placing our palms on the analog sticks and rotating as fast as possible. Everyone found it funny that we were so dedicated that we got blisters before deciding maybe our hands had been pushed enough and to stop playing.
When Stacey bought Beijing 2008 this weekend, we both knew we were in for some long hours on the xbox as well as some sore hands, and the possibility of blisters. Lets just say we were not wrong… the game is great, events are fun but tough, and there is more events than Athens had. Unfortunately we were also right about blisters, as we both finished the weekend with a couple each.
The game is great fun, and very well executed. I especially like that they created an olympic games mode in which you have daily targets, for example there may be 5 events on day 3, and your task is to qualify for the finals in at least 2 of them. This tasks change day to day, and get harder as the games progress. By the end you’ll be required to win 4 gold medals from 5 events, which is a very difficult task considering Kayaking is just damn impossible for us, haha. As you complete days you are rewarded with points (depending on your results, and records broken, perfect attempts, etc) which can be used to purchase upgrades to improve your teams stats (eg. speed, power, agility, etc). I feel this gives fantastic replay value, as competing in an event with no reward eventually grows old.
If you are looking for a good single player challenge, that’ll keep you satisfied. While multiplayer will always remain fun to beat your friends. If you enjoyed Athens i strongly recommend Beijing. If you are just looking to get into the olympic spirit then you may also enjoy cheering yourself on for a win in every event. A good game overall if you ask me.
