Introduction

The London 2012 Olympics is finally here and I am sure many of you are excited. If you haven't been selected to take part in an event and haven't got a ticket, there is the option of this video game. This is the officially endorsed video game of the London 2012 Olympics. The game is available for the Pc, Xbox and Playstation but the version I will be reviewing will be the PS3 version. The game was released at the end of June just before the Olympics began. It was produced by Sega studios. The current retail price is just over the £30 mark but this will probably reduce after the Olympics. That is if you are prepared to wait. So can this game get the gold or is it left trailing behind in last place? Read on to find out.

The game itself

You have the choice of representing a total of 30 nations.

Events

The game features a total of 49 events in 13 different sports and across different categories such as track and field, aquatics, shooting, archery as well as quite a few others ranging from beach volleyball to weightlifting. A number of notable events are not in the game including the likes of fighting sports such as boxing and judo. Also team sports are omitted so there is no football, basketball or hockey. There's long jump and triple jump, but no pole vault. There is the 100m, 200m and 400m races, but there is no 1500m which might have had a more tactical element to it. There is also no relay events which seemed quite surprising. There is only one cycling event also but something as trivial as trampolining is included.

Graphics

The athletes in the game, although being well presented in terms of graphics are not athletes from real life but ones created for the game. This is a slight disappointment as it would have been a bit more fun and true to life if competing with the likes of Usain Bolt, Jessica Ennis and co.

The venues such as the Olympic stadium, velodrome, aquatics centre, Lords cricket ground and others are recreated in pristine fashion and look good on screen.

There is a slick television style presentation with all the graphics and logos appearing on screen as well as results which come up on screen after each round of an event. It all looks like you are watching the real thing despite not having the real athletes.

Sound

The commentary is provided by BBC reporter Seth Bennett and ex-athlete Allison Curbishley .It is dynamic in nature and is certainly more engaging then in a lot of sports games. There is also the quite realistic crowd sounds.

Controls

The controls are not just about button bashing but also tapping the right buttons and sticks (left and right analogue) at the right time. In the 100m you don't just bash the x button as much as you can but try to get to an optimum speed and pace. In the 110m hurdles it is about tapping the x button repeatedly to run and then pushing the left stick at the right time to clear each hurdle. Some events also require you to jump(long jump/triple jump) or throw (javelin/discus) at an optimal angle which is also again about timing. The controls are not overly difficult and with a bit of practice you can get the hang of it pretty quickly. There are handy tutorials which walk you through the controls for each event.

Motion controls are also available with the Playstation move. They are added as an extra for those interested in them. As I don't have the Playstation Move controller I can't comment on how good this aspect of the game is but some events such as Archery can be played with the motion controller.

Game modes

Olympic mode

This is a single player mode which allows you to represent a nation and take part in two events each day starting with a qualifying round then to the finals where you try to win medals.

Events play

This mode allows you to put together a list of up to 9 events for 1-4 players to take on together. You can choose to play as an individual or in a team.

Party play

You select an event and the number of players then choose whether to have cpu opponents or not. You can also choose to use the ps move controller in this mode.

Online play

There is both the option to play casually and competitively in online mode.

Overall

This is a pretty fun game to play and is quite easily accessible by young and old. It also looks the part. It does not seem to have a lot of lasting appeal though. The single player modes are certainly limited in terms of how much depth there is so you may not be playing for months and years to come. The omission of certain events is also a disadvantage as well as not having the real athletes. If you are in the midst of Olympic fever though, this game can certainly satisfy. It is probably the best Olympic game to date but that isn't enough to get it top marks and a gold medal. It does though get a solid 3/5 stars from me.