The nine events it includes are too mixed a bunch with only a handful, like the skeleton bob and curling, being moderately fun while ski jumping, speed skating and others fall spectacularly on their backsides. The control system is too convoluted, demanding you tap random icons, balance balls and steer tricky paths on the touchscreen while somehow keeping an eye on the top screen action, too. It's altogether way too frustrating to play for long.
The overall presentation is sub-par, though there's a photo of speed skater Anni Friesinger on the box if that floats your boat. Turn off the commentary as soon as you can because doing so gives you a chance to hear the quite brilliant funk soundtrack – the only real gold medal here.
GamerTM writes: "Although new to the 360, the Winter Sports franchise has been around for a few years now and the developers have produced several other skiing and biathlon themed titles, as well as taking a first foray into warmer climes with Summer Athletics, released last year. You'd think that with this kind of experience they'd be able to knock out a highly polished package, but unfortunately Winter Sports 2009 is largely bereft of original ideas and littered with inconsistencies that can only lead us to believe that after nailing the basic gameplay (and this could have been done years ago) no-one at the studio actually sat down and played the game."
Play: "The chances are you don't really care what I did last Sunday but stay with me, it's kind of relevant. After a morning spent mowing the lawn and generally pottering around the garden my wife and I walked to the local pub mid-afternoon where we sat in the garden, had a couple of drinks and watched the new born lambs playing in the field opposite. We then walked home enjoying the fact that since the clocks had gone forward we could do so in daylight. While I grant you none of that was hugely exciting (although we had a nice time thank you very much) it was a day full of significantly non-wintery things. These undeniable signs that we've finally put the worst winter in years behind us comes at precisely the time 49 Games have decided what we all really really want is a new winter sports game."
