User Review : Beijing 2008

Surprisingly enjoyable.

It has been a while since I played an Olympics sports type of game. In fact the last I played was probably more than 15 years back on a PC. There was therefore a certain anticipation of nostalgia when I put the disc in and booted up the game.

I bought this game not expecting very much. I just wanted to have a variety of straightforward, short and simple sports games to compete with friends, and honestly, how much could you expect from what is essentially a collection of simple mini games?

But apart from the nice presentation and the pleasing theme song, the graphics turned out to be surprisingly good. Character models of different nationalities are carefully crafted out and it was nice to see that the developers also paid some attention to the backgrounds which, given the type of game and setting, could easily have been dull and colorless. Unfortunately, the number of countries that are available to choose from are somewhat limited.

The content of events is good. There are easily more than 30 different events that you can participate in, although many of these are really variations of the same type of game. So in terms of technical gameplay, there is not really much difference between 100m sprint, 200m or 400m. Nonetheless, when you are competing with friends or trying to set a new record, the difference between a 100m and a 400m event does become very palpable as your hand and fingers start tiring out and the blisters start developing while you frantically waggle the right stick to quicken the pace of your athlete.

Apart from speed events, there are also events that demand of you precise timing and coordination in the pressing of the buttons, shooter type reflexes, balancing acts in maintaining the "cursor" with
a certain zone and variations of the above. For the speed events for example, you don't just furiously waggle the right stick left and right all the time because the swimming events might require you to furiously rotate both left and right sticks in various directions instead (which is not easy!).

I particularly enjoy the diving event where you have to rotate the left and right stick (one representing the head and the other the feet of the athlete) at different speeds and different directions in order to execute that perfect dive.

I can imagine that some people might find certain events to be total turn-offs because of the difficulty in executing the moves, but if you bother to keep at it and practice till you get it right, it can be rewarding and maybe even fun. However, having said that, I have given up on kayaking and judo as I simply could not figure those out.

Therein lies the problem when you choose to play the Olympic Games mode rather than just your preferred events. In that mode, you have to play through all the events, and in order to move on to the next day, there is a quota of events that you MUST qualify each day, otherwise it will be game over. Out of so many events, there will very likely be that 1 or 2 events that you are simply not good enough at to qualify, and the game forces you to keep trying in order to progress through. That can be very frustrating as you will find yourself replaying your least favorite events till you are somehow able to qualify.

No doubt there will be events that people find lame, boring or just frustrating. But equally there are enough games to keep you going especially if you are one who likes a little challenge, a little competition and are prepared to keep practising till you get it right.

All in all, this game exceeded my expectations and will be a worthwhile addition to the PS3 library during this period of scarcity, particularly now that the Olympics fever is on.

Score

7.2

Graphics

8.2

Sound

7.0

Gameplay

8.2

Fun Factor

Overall

7.6