finally

Reviewed by junky12345 on August 01, 2008  |  report this review

Since Beijing 2008 is such a control-centric game (if a sports game doesn't feel right, it's no fun), it's worth taking time to describe areas where it excels and falters. Most of the race-based events – such as cycling, the 50m freestyle, the 100m breaststroke, and 100m track – rely on how fast you can alternately mash two buttons back-and-forth. This may initially seem like a fun mechanic, but on longer races it can get tiring quickly, and since there's no other way to build speed or maintain power, the fun factor drops quickly. Also, the power meter seems to fluctuate randomly. Sometimes you'll barely be tapping the buttons to maintain (or increase) your speed, while other times you're nearly breaking your controller to stay out of last place. Cycling mixes things up by allowing you to have multiple team members and swap them out based on a fatigue level, but since the game does this automatically, the idea seems wasted. Longer track races also utilize a fatigue meter, but it's just for show. You can't really slow down to rest, so you just keep hammering away on the same two buttons until your fatigue meter refills.
Here we are, 25 years later, and many Olympic-based video games have come and gone, but has there really been any real evolution of the gameplay? Developer Eurocom acquired an official license for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens and has secured it again for this year's host city – Beijing. Beijing 2008 forgets to nail the one area it needs to most – controls – and this results in a lackluster experience.