Playing the game

Vancouver 2010 is inspired by the upcoming 2010 Winter Olympic Games. In the game you participate in 14 events including skiing, snowboarding, speed skating, and  bobsledding. You control your athlete in events through a mix of analog stick control and quick time events that bear a great deal of similarity to rhythm games like guitar hero where you press the indicated button as you are directed to on screen. You can play alone or against friends via split-screen or Xbox Live and PlayStation Network online. In single player you can use training mode to learn individual events, play Olympics mode where you attempt to win a medal by beating the scores of computer competitors, or challenge mode where you complete specific non-traditional challenges such as knocking down snowmen on the ski slope or  landing on a small target when ski jumping. Each event is treated as a separate challenge and generally lasts less than 5 minutes.

What the game gets right

Tutorials available before each event help to familiarize the player with each control scheme. The graphics are, for the most part very good. The characters are rendered well and the environments though limited have a realistic look to them. The ability to place your score against the worldwide leader board ads an extra layer of competitiveness and enjoyment to the events. The game interface is clean and easy to use allowing you to quickly select your desired event. Bobsledding, luging and skeleton give the you a pretty incredible sense of speed as you rocket through the series of turns. While I at no time felt like I was truly controlling the athlete, the ski jumping event was none-the-less quite addictive. I spent a good while trying to get my timing on the quick time button presses just right so as to get an extra bit of speed as a screamed down the jump. During my review of the game I didn’t have a chance to play against others but I’d bet it brings additional life to the game.

What the game gets wrong

I’m a fan of the Olympic games and the sense international unity, human struggle and athletic excellence that the games bring with them. Unfortunately I found the overall tone of the game far from Olympic. While you can choose to represent any of around two dozen country’s teams- you are simply given a generic character wearing the team colors. You cannot play as an actual real-world athletes.  If anything this game would have been better done as an extreme winter sports game with its short-attention-span ADD pacing and bland alternative-rock soundtrack. Strangely the game also doesn’t follow the usual Olympic game model of having a qualifying run and then several medal attempts. The experience is quick and doesn’t leave you feeling embodying an olympic champion. Essentially the game feels like a bunch of mini-games with a thin facade of next generation graphics and sound thrown on top. The control of your athletes is done primarily through quicktime events and repetitive pressing of buttons. I was surprised how little use of the analog sticks there was and how “on rails” the majority of the events felt.  In particular the speed skating controls were awful. Instead of simply using the analog stick to steer you, you must use the left bumper to lean into the turn while repeatedly pressing buttons to accelerate. Its a wonder how anyone on the development team thought this was a good control method and leads me to think the controls were an afterthought. There is a general lack of variety in the various game modes. One can simply play through a few times and memorize the course or downhill slope. The accumulated weak points of the game make it feel quickly put together, very arcadey, and not at all the Olympic winter sports simulator it could have been.

Sum it up