Beijing 2008

If you love the idea of being an Olympic athlete but think it looks like too much effort to become one, Beijing 2008 is for you. Let’s be real, we’ve all looked at the highly trained athletes, literally the greatest specimens of human endurance and power, performing feats that boggle the mind and thought “well that doesn’t look too hard.” It is. It is hard. That’s why games like this will always have a special place in our society for reminding us that pressing buttons is always more fun and always easier than actually doing anything. Let’s prepare ourselves and get right into it.

Gameplay

The gameplay in this title is pretty straightforward, as you would expect. The majority of it are quick-time events, like in Tomb Raider or Shenmue where you have to push a button when a prompt appears on screen. There is a significant amount of this as the game can’t really include anything else. You have a set thing you need to do and its just about how well you do it. There is no free roam, no hub for you to explore, just all the events you can participate in. You can’t even get your freak on at the Olympic Village. That being said, there is a lot of games to play in with some decent variety. It all handles a lot like Mario and Sonic Olympics so it’s all nice and responsive, it lacks a real party mode aspect but it still does what it means to do well.

Interesting Tidbits

There is a veritable cornucopia of events for you to dip your toes into. You got seven different Track events, eight Field events, six Aquatic events, 10 Gymnastic events and 6 other events of various category. That’s a great roster of games to play.

Other than that, the game also sports 33 represented Nations, from Australia and Austria to the United States of America and Poland. So, you are able to support your nation from across the world should you wish to, or switch it up and support an entirely different nation.

Visuals

The visuals in games like this are of paramount importance as the gameplay itself. The gameplay is good, as we established, and the visuals are too. Everything is clear to see, action is easy to follow and the people don’t look like horrendous clay monsters forged in the fires of hell so you definitely can’t complain there.

There is an interesting amount of detail where everyone in the background looks and acts exactly like they should. I, personally, have an odd thing about checking out the audience in games like this and these ones aren’t cardboard cutouts that animate on a three-frame cycle. They put a fair amount of detail and it’s going a surprisingly long way in not taking you out of the action.

Pros:

• Nice Visuals
• Easy gameplay

Cons:

• It’s more ambitious game modes sometimes fall flat
• Cutscenes that you cant skip

This May Cause controversy, but I have never considered tapping two buttons in rapid succession or endlessly waggling a joystick to be fun. It wasn't fun when I was playing Daley Thompson's Olympic Challenge in 1988, and it sure as hell isn't fun now. In fact, the only factor that remains fun about the experience is watching the pained expression on a fellow player's face as they trigger the early on-set of arthritis while systematically destroying their 360 gamepad. (Because, as ever, this isn't a PC port that's been particularly laboured over in the SEGA HQ).

What I won't take away from Beijing 2008 though is that it's a slick package with far more sports covered than you would otherwise expect (38 in all - including stuff like judo, gymnastics and diving) each with faintly interesting methods of control that go slightly beyond the long-established Track & Field template and into the realms of rhythm action and precision D-pad twiddling.

The problem is, three-quarters of the events are 24-carat bollocks - and in the remaining fields the Olympian skills of AI competitors far outweigh your own nandrolone-free digits. The videogame rendition of the Beijing Olympics is a smooth and shiny one, and vaguely fun in two player, but its frantic, pointless, Sisyphean button mashing couldn't stand at greater odds to the human drama, elation and despair of the real thing. Avoid.