So tomorrow is the beginning of the 2012 London Olympics. It feels as if I am one of the only people looking forward to the events. When you speak to anyone about the Olympics they reply with such fury about the inconvenience of having tourists visiting London in large numbers. I don't see what all the fuss is about really, I would understand peoples concerns if it were a massive load of sex offenders being unleashed onto the British shores! London is always busy and full of tourists anyway and plus it is only for a few weeks. Mind you the British are nation which yearly grinds to a halt if 2 centimeters of snow sets on the floor. Anyway enough of me moaning about British people moaning and onto the subject at hand which is Olympic related video games. I wont be reviewing all of the athletics games ever to be released but just the ones I have owned.
BARCELONA 92 OLYMPIC GOLD FOR SEGA MEGADRIVE
It is hard to believe that 2 decades have passed since the Barcelona Olympic games. I also can not believe that my life has not changed that much since then as I still enjoy reading comics, playing Sega. eating Coco Pops and annoying the cat. One of Britain's heroes from this event attended my secondary school (West Hatch in Chigwell Essex) a few years before I attended. All our teachers would harp on and on about how great Sally Gunnel was in assembly, and how shit and pathetic we all were and how we could never win a gold medal. I remember a music teacher called Mr Brooks used to harp on and on about he how taught Sally Gunnel how to play the triangle or some bollocks. I remember one of my class mates pointed out that she was famous for her athletic skills and not her musical ones.. he was then sent out of class.
For the record thanks to the new X-Box 360 London 2012 video game I did not only go on to win 1 gold medal but I won 10! So smoke that Sally Gunnel!
Anyway for the 1992 Olympic games they released a Sega Megadrive video game of the events. At the time it seemed really cool but replaying it now is a very horrific experience. Even the opening scene starts off bad and slopes down from there. When the badly animated character lights up the Olympic torch the sound effect resembles that of someone doing a massive fart down a drainpipe.
The game only features 7 events which isn't too bad when you take the games release date into consideration. There is 400 meters sprints, the hammer throw, archery, hurdles, pole vault, springboard and freestyle swimming.
The gameplay was awful and just involved bashing the fuck out of your control pad. Apart from the archery, running and swimming events the games controls don't work what so ever. The game is 2 decades old and I have never been able to get the hammer out of the cage once. I also think that it would be easier to learn how to springboard dive at a national level in real life than it would to do a successful dive on this fucking game.
Replaying this game did not bring back any good memories apart from the background music sounding like a soundtrack from a 70's porn film which is always amusing. Fuck this game!
INTERNATIONAL TRACK AND FIELD 2 PLAYSTAION
International Track and Field 2 was the first ever athletics game I ever really enjoyed. Me and my best friend Steve used to play this religiously in the year 2000.
I have so many great memories of this game and how competitive it got trying to get the better of each other. We used to have wagers on the events with some of the most absurd forfeits ever. One I remember very well was if you lost the events you were never allowed to fantasize about Stephanie Mcmahon ever again while masturbating. Absurd and weird on so many levels just like the rest of my life.
The game featured many events including 100 meters sprint, 400 meter, hurdles, springboard diving, weight lifting, gymnastics, canoeing, cycling, javelin and many more. The game was essentially an arcade style button basher but it was presented so well that the game was fun and very addictive.
Visually the game was great for its time and was very well put together in terms of graphics and sound. International Track and Field 2 will always have a place in my game collection. I also still have the memory card from 2000 with all of our records on there,
LONDON 2012 THE OLYMPIC GAMES X BOX 360 AND PS3
The brand new Olympics video game from Sega is the greatest athletics game ever released. I do not know where to start as there is so much great aspects of this game. Ok lets start with the control system, which is a very simple button mashing system in which you have to keep a power bar full just above a line. If you go to mental with the button bashing your athlete will gas out and will not be able to win the event. The idea is all about rhythm, timing and technique.
The games visual presentation of this game is top notch. The game brings the events, the athletes and the city of London to life in magnificent style. The games commentary and voice overs are also fantastic and really make you feel like you are watching a real life broadcast.
The games replay value is very good and with over 20 events to choose from plus X Box live and Playstation Network modes make this game very competitive online. The gameplay is fantastic and can be enjoyed by gamers of any age. Get this game and enjoy the events!
