Yes, once again we come to an even numbered year, and that means once again we come to another Olympics video game. Take Two takes the upcoming 2006 Winter Olympics at Torino and makes a game to match it. Sporting improved graphics and an easy to pick up and run with system that should get you into the Olympics with little muss and fuss, you are tossed headlong into the latest Olympics at Torino (in case you, you know, couldn’t afford the airfare to attend the actual event and didn’t want to spend endless hours training to earn a spot in the Olympics team to participate in any of these events).

Let’s start off with the events. The game promises to host eight different disciplines with 15 different events including Alpine Skiing, Biathlon (ski, shoot, ski, shoot, ski, shoot), Bobsleigh (here come the Jamacians!!), Luge, Speed Skating, Ski Jumping, Cross-Country Skiing and Nordic Combined. That is… what… only half the events listed above. So what does that mean?
Seven events yet to fill. There are the new “xtreme” Winter Olympics events, like the new snowboarding event making it’s premiere this year but… well… I guess it’s too soon to see that in a video game, maybe next year. And since I don’t think people care whether or not they bring back the sport of Sconing (or whatever it‘s called) in the game that leave the always popular and usually controversial figure skating!

I guess you can’t blame gamemakers for dropping the damn thing. It seems most of the time you

see it in to Olympics something bad, as in controversial, happens. The judges are bribed and corrupt, Tanya Harding is throwing a hissy fit, somebody is doped up on what may or may not be illegal drugs, and now this Olympics. Don’t expect this year to be any different in the possible complaints dept., what with figure skating slacker Michelle Kwan getting in with minimum effort and maximum name recognition for starters you can be sure this will be another whiney year for the figure skating competition (especially if her groin and whatever else is bothering her doesn’t heal enough for her to compete in time).
At least the problem won’t be a new “system” to throw people off their game since people had more than enough time to get used to it.

Ok, you know part of the games you’ll play now how about how well you’ll master it.
The game promises “intuitive controls created for a fun “pick up and play” system that’ll make it easy to get involved with the game with minimum fuss. That seems most true from the screen shots I’ve saw. The game seems to teach you how to get the hang of each event as you play, with your control instructions clearly displayed on the screen so you can easily get the hang of each event with little experimentation or the need to have to run through a “practice” section just to get the hang of each event’s controls. That is good since this means you should be able to pick

this game up and quickly master it with little complications. Something to grow on since I’ll be renting this and won’t have access to a instruction booklet to learn what the control scheme for each event will be. Also there is the difficulty levels with three difficulty levels, which should challenge you in all the right ways. Not much, I know, but this should be fine for the game.

The look of the game promises to shine above what you saw in 2004 with the Summer Olympics from Athens. The graphics look more polished and prettier now, with the setting of Torino looking just plain beautiful from the visuals I saw. In fact it might even be an accurate visual of what I saw, which means when I see the Olympics it should stick in my mind as being the exact same visuals as I saw in the game… then again maybe not, but who can say at this point. Well, at least the sights of the game look realistic. One downside of the punched up graphics seems to be that the spectators occasionally (from the images I’ve seen) suffer from a lack of dimensionality in their graphics. Some close up screenshots I’ve seen reveal that the spectators seem to be two dimensionally to them, which gives them a rather flat look to them from a few screen shots I’ve seen. Guess it’s too late to complain about the flat people, so just be glad you probably won’t notice it since you’ll be speeding past them too

fast to notice how flat they are.

The one thing I couldn’t verify from a first look, of course, is the audio component of the game, another important factor of the game. The game promises to deliver an “intense live atmosphere portrayed authentically with commentators, TV Cameras and background sound”. Don’t worry, by the way, the promise of “TV Cameras” won’t mean you’ll be stuck with static camera angles that’ll throw your gaming off since all the visuals I’ve seen show over the back visuals that work fine. But as for the rest? Well, only time, a demo, and actual gameplay will reveal if the perks of authentic commentary and background sounds will pan out. One thing not mentioned though, which I am interested in, is background music. One thing that gets your blood pumping and your gaming on is motivational background music that gets your gaming on, and yet there is no word as to that… wonder if that is a good or bad thing.

Rounding out the package is a multiplayer option with four players, however there is (once again probably since I don’t remember the 2004 game mentioning anything of the sort) no online feature. Odd that a game featuring the sports of the world Olympics doesn’t feature a chance to compete against the world in online competition… kinda sucks, doesn’t it.
This game, besides the PS2, is also promised for the Xbox and PC, and should be out soon.
A more complete review (either a DEMO or full review) is coming soon, stay tuned.