Product Features

Genre: Adventure
Publisher: Sega
Release Date: June 29, 2012
Available Platforms: PC, PlayStation 3, XBox 360

London 2012 The Official Video Game of the Olympic Games

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London 2012 The Official Video Game Of The Olympic Games will allow gamers to create their own moments of sporting history and fame by experiencing the thrill and adrenaline rush of the events and disciplines that will be a part of the London 2012 Olympic Games. Over 30 Olympic events have been authentically recreated in their official Olympic arenas against the capital's iconic skyline, with a host of new disciplines making their debut in London 2012. Keirin (Cycling) at the Velodrome, 10m Synchronised Platform (Diving) at the Aquatics Centre and Trampoline at North Greenwich Arena are just some of the new sports that will bring the atmosphere of the Olympic venues to life. Take yourself from the spectator seat, to the race track, swimming pool, gymnastics arena and more and feel the adrenaline...

George Orton August 21, 2012 360

****

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past few weeks, you can't have missed the huge impact that the summer's biggest sporting event has had on the nation. Despite some early cynicism and negative publicity about this year's Olympic games, London 2012 turned out to be a triumph that succeeded in uniting the country in a genuine love of sport, as well as spreading a sense of genuine optimism and positivity among even the most curmudgeonly elements of the UK populace.

But although the games are now over, and people are drifting back down to reality (just in time for the weather to take a turn for the worse and for the summer holidays to be over), there's still a chance to recapture the magic of London 2012 through the officially-licensed game of this year's Olympics, produced by Sega. And to give the publisher their credit, they've turned what could have been a fairly dull and by-numbers sports game into a fun and authentic-feeling representation of the London Olympics.

To start with, the presentation of the game is very slick. The opening sequence features pixel-perfect replicas of the Olympic stadium and ArcelorMittal Orbit tower (you know, that big red metal thing), and - once you get down to the individual events - there are faithful recreations of the secondary locations for specific sports too. There are also seemingly endless options for you to customise the game to your liking, whether it's the nationality of your athlete or their other attributes and appearance. So the overall look and feel of the game is great.

There's also a wide selection of events to choose from. There's the more obvious track and field stuff, which is to be expected, but there are also some slightly more unexpected events - including (but not limited to) archery, diving, shooting, table tennis and weightlifting. Obviously, there are some events that didn't make it into the game (it would be impossible to include them all), and sadly - in retrospect - quite a few of those are sports in which Team GB achieved gold medals during the actual Olympics themselves. But the developers have managed to include a decent smattering of the most popular and interesting events here, and have concentrated on making their chosen set of events enjoyable to play, rather than trying to cram as many events in as they can at the expense of the game's quality.

The other aspect of the game that I really have to praise is the inventive control systems for each individual event. I'm old enough to remember the days when the control methods for athletics videogames all fell into the same category of frantic joystick-waggling and button-pressing, which wasn't the most fulfilling way to enjoy a game - and usually resulted in a fair few broken controllers after a few days of play! Here, however, they've largely managed to avoid that, instead placing an emphasis on precision (such as trying to keep a power bar as full as possible without pushing it too far over the limit) and timing (such as pulling off certain button-combination sequences at exactly the right moment). It's a more enjoyable and less exhausting way to control a sports game, and there's a pleasing variety in control systems between the different events, meaning it'll take a while to master them all.

However, I can't end this review without some gripes. Most notably, despite the wide selection of events featured here, there are some omissions that I can't believe it didn't occur to Sega to include, particularly when it comes to female versions of the big track and field events. For example, there's no Women's 100m sprint, 200m sprint or 110m hurdles events here, despite the male equivalents all being present. Women also don't get the chance to compete - at all - in the discus, shot put, javelin, long jump or triple jump, as well as the rowing, cycling and trampolining. In fact, the only case in which this situation is reversed is for the Beach Volleyball: for some reason, the people behind the game thought that players would only be interested in the Women's event, so didn't bother including the Men's. I wonder why?

Sexism aside, there are also a couple of other minor niggles that start to get irritating after you've played the game for a few hours. For example, the commentary, whilst pretty authentic-feeling, starts to grate after a while - especially when you have commentators talking over the beginning of certain events, making it hard to hear the all-important starting pistol.

But aside from one major problem (the gender imbalance) and a few nitpicky presentational issues, this is a pretty good videogame version of the London Olympic Games - and certainly a better gaming experience than I expected it to be, given the lacklustre efforts that these licensed titles often produce. The appeal of 'London 2012' might wane slightly as the memories of this summer's games grow hazier, but for the moment, this is a perfect way to recapture the excitement and enthusiasm that the UK experienced this summer.