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> Results: Athens 2004
Format For Printing | Tell A Friend | Digg | Slashdot | del.icio.us Scroll down for our Kid Factor. 
Daddy, can we go back to Dark Cloud 2?A long time ago, back when PC monitors only displayed two colors, black and green, I got hooked on a multiplayer game called Summer Games, from game pioneer Epyx. Yes, there were multiplayer games even for us old farts that gamed in the days of MS-DOS! Summer Games modeled track and field events. The graphics were mighty primitive, but the hot-seat multiplayer was fun. My friends and I would crowd around the keyboard and tap keys rapidly to make the icons representing our athletes move around a track in the various foot racing events, or time our key clicks to set the angle or power of a high jump. We had a blast then, and I always wondered, ﾓCould such a game could make the transition to contemporary times, accompanied by the usual graphical advancements?ﾔ Eurocom has given me the answer: No. Itﾒs not that the developers didnﾒt implement the original concept well. Itﾒs that they did, and those original games werenﾒt that deep. I realize that now, having relived some of them through Athens 2004. Whatﾒs the problem? First, letﾒs look at the single-player mode, starting with track and field events. The running events play a lot like the old Epyx games events did. You must alternate taps between the X and O buttons on the Playstation 2 controller to make the digital athlete character run faster, with occasional taps on the L1 trigger to lunge forward at the end. I find the use of the L1 trigger well chosen, but the X/O tapping is a little trickier to implement, and the game requires you to keep it up for a long time. The gameﾒs input calibration needs some reworking, because expecting a player to tap those buttons like a rabid lab monkey hitting the switches on a broken banana dispenser for more than twenty seconds is plain torture. If it werenﾒt so comical watching players struggling with the control and tiring to the point where they can barely move their fingers, thereﾒd be nothing entertaining about Athens 2004. My runner started out a bit slow off the gun (you simply canﾒt be faster than the computer opponents at knowing when to start), actually recovered to the second position in the pack once I got the buttons going, then as my fingers tired, started to fall behind. It was like this in every running event, with my athlete finishing consistently at the end of the pack.  You think thatﾒs silly? You should have seen the look on my four-year-old sonﾒs face when he saw that that is how you have to play the game. It took all of twenty seconds for him to say, ﾓLetﾒs try a different event, Daddy.ﾔ Usually, he asks to try it himself, or is happy to watch more as I play, but after a few dismal performances, he was ready to go back to playing Dark Cloud 2. And I consider my finger dexterity somewhere between average and above average. If youﾒre not into button mashing, stay away, and if youﾒre into button mashing, stay away. Athens 2004 takes the concept to a whole new mindless level. At least in fighting games, the button mashing makes sense. In Athens, itﾒs just grueling repetition sans any strategy or soul. Helping matters a little is that Athens offers dozens of events. The running Iﾒve told you about, but there are also swimming events, jumps, gymnastics, equestrian, archery, and target shooting. Each event still depends on a permutation of the simple button repetitions or timing exercises, however, so although not all are as tiring as the running events (except for the swimming, which is murder), nearly all manage to hurl the fun factor out of the stadium. The graphics in Athens 2004 are average at best, and many will probably find them sub-par compared to the human models in other games, but they donﾒt negatively affect function. If thereﾒs any saving grace here, itﾒs in the party mode. This multiplayer mode allows players to compete head to head, and thatﾒs possibly the only way I could see Athens 2004 providing any real entertainment value. A human opponent with human limitations of manual dexterity and endurance makes for a better experience. Party mode is compatible with the dance mat peripherals, so if you have one, you might get a decent workout as part of the deal. Outside of that, 989 Sports has to be pretty ashamed to put their badge on this contestant. Iﾒve sure been a brute in this review, and since I donﾒt like to be thought of as an ultra-liberal or an ultra-conservative type that only knows how to sit in the bleachers and throw rotten apples, Iﾒll try to be a part of the solution instead of part of the problem. Could a game like Athens 2004 work? I think it might be possible, but it starts with remembering what makes a good game. The events in Athens 2004 are all individual events. Making the player go solo in a game isnﾒt new. Itﾒs been done in adventure games and first-person shooters. But in Athens 2004, the gameplay in these events is so simple and rote, that thereﾒs nothing to do that requires your brain. Instead of mashing buttons to run, perhaps a mechanism where players must gauge when to conserve energy or expend it would lend more strategy to the contest. One of the endurance run events actually does something a little like this, using a heartbeat meter, but the game needs to go farther than just improving the game mechanics. Perhaps borrowing concepts from other successful games could help, like role-playing elements and exclusive multiplayer modes. In a career mode, training can help develop an athleteﾒs stats and illustrate the journey from amateur to semi-pro. More team sports would be good too, since those are typically more engaging than an individual event (though admittedly much harder to implement). Finally, why not make good use of the DVD media? There are all kinds of additional materials that would be great there. A brief history of the Olympic games and athletes, record lists, and maybe a few videos. The more I think about Athens 2004ﾒs wasted potential, the more it strikes me as a cheaply developed game designed to capitalize on the licensing, even if thatﾒs not what the developers intended. Kid factor: Itﾒs a clean game for kids because itﾒs completely safe and a little educational. There is no cussing, violence, or blood. The gameﾒs motif and character mascots are taken from the real Olympic mascots and the events are based on real-life sporting events (Athens 2004 is after all the Official Video Game of the 2004 Olympics). But your kids will need to have really superior motor skills to play, and theyﾒll probably get frustrated early because the challenge is considerable in many events. I can endorse that the game is inoffensive, but I canﾒt endorse it as compelling. If you are hot to get your youngsters a sports game, check out the Backyard sports series or any of the franchise sports titles from the major publishers and leave the Olympics on the television. Ages: 8+ ESRB: E - Everyone Developer: Eurocom Entertainment Software Publisher: 989 Sports Format For Printing | Tell A Friend | Digg | Slashdot | del.icio.us Home > Review Archive > Video Games > Results: Athens 2004 |
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