Winter Olympics 2010 (PS3)
With the recent deluge of snow and ice, we Brits have been getting a taste of winter sports without having to venture further afield than the Lickey Hills!
But with the white stuff thawed out, at least for the time being, you may want to hit the slopes - from the comfort of your sofa.
Winter Sports 2010 is a collection of sporting disciplines that you can play ad-hoc or as part of a career.
Released to tie-in with the Winter Olympics, the games on offer are snowboard cross, bobsleigh, figure skating, ski jumping, downhill skiing, freestyle skiing, biathlon and short track speed skating.
That's not many games, I hear you say. No, it's not. In fact, it is shamefully sketchy.
I think the idea was to go for quality and not quantity, but unfortunately I can't say that they have achieved this in all areas.
The games are a complete mixture in quality from very good to very bad.
In downhill skiing and bobsledding, for example, the sense of speed is very well captured and makes for some exhilarating gameplay.
Figure skating is pretty dire with the controls aping the rhythm approach used by dance games and Guitar Hero series.
It doesn't work, though. Imagine a much worse version of the same discipline on the Mario and Sonic Winter Olympics game.
On the whole the games aren't too bad. The control can be guilty of simplicity and crudeness at times, reduced to button mashing and simple steering.
Ski jumping should be the most fun event, but it isn't. Basic timing is pretty much all you need.
Snowboarding is great fun and probably my favourite event, the mixture of speed and jumps worksing well.
Graphically, there aren't too many complaints; the backgrounds are good and convey the scope of the surroundings and the piste well.
The multiplayer aspect of the game can be hugely enjoyable as you would expect and the ability to take it online is very welcome.
Not a bad game by any stretch of the imagination and the career mode was far more enjoyable than I expected it to be.
* Next week we review Vancouver 2010 - let's see how it fares.
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Steve Wollaston - Sunday Mercury games reviewer Steve has been writing about video games for donkey's years. In fact he is probably far too old for it now which is why you will see a lot of reviews been done by kids... He has been nominated three times for Regional Games Journalist Of The Year at the Games Media Awards, but never wins. His major love is sports games and rates Sensible World of Soccer circa 90's as the greatest game ever made - closely followed by Championship Manager 2. Skyrim has currently taken over his life.
Every four years I tune into the Winter Olympics and I must say the 2010 Vancouver games have been very impressive. I think Canada has done a fantastic job of holding the Olympic Games and despite some bad news, the Games should be a great success. I regularly watch Online sports so I am very excited by the Olympics this year. A number of sports sites listed at www.dozensports.com are saying that this year is the perfect year for skiing wherever in the world you are. At least something good comes out of the Big Freeze.
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