Vancouver 2010 :: Xbox 360 Game Review

Bring the Winter Olympics home with the new Vancouver 2010 game by Sega for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. Play in 14 of the events featured in this year’s games, including skiing, snowboarding, short track speed skating, bobsleigh, skeleton and luge. Up to four players can join the fun, both online and off. Represent your country at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and bring home the gold!

Golden gameplay

All of the games offered in this year’s official Olympic video game control really well and most are easy to get into but require rigid timing and practice to really master. Others are more immediately comfortable and will have you gracing the podium in no time. This game does a great job of balancing easy-access events like ski and snowboard cross with tougher-to-master games like aerial skiing, allowing for fun, varied gameplay for the whole family.

Silver variety

Though there are 14 events features in the game, there are really only a handful of sports represented here. Previous Olympic games have had events such as ice hockey and curling, which would go a long way towards extending this game’s longevity, especially as there is no curling video game currently on the market. Many of the courses repeat, as there are only so many Olympic venues, but racing down these same courses will inevitably become tiresome.

Bronze presentation

Though this game’s menus have clean lines and colours that mirror the style of the Vancouver Olympics, there is little else in terms of atmosphere to make it feel truly like the Olympic games. If Sega developed a “Road to the Olympics” mode more comprehensive and dramatic than the simple challenge and event select modes, involved more vibrant crowds and greater fanfare, it could have gone a long way towards making this a game to satiate your Olympic hunger until 2014.

Rating:

Price: $49.99

ESRB Rating: E for Everyone

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