PlayStation 2

Athens 2004

The Summer Olympic Games are almost upon us and Sony, in conjunction with Eurocom, will be releasing Athens 2004 in July. This is a game that will take sports fans into the heart of the action at these cyber Olympic games. The game features a host of events, sterling animation and challenges, as well the ability to choose the country and character you wish to represent you in this 25-event program.

Whilst Athens 2004 is not wildly different from any other Olympic based game that's gone before it has some great elements that make it fun. The Party mode in particular is a whole heap of fun particularly if you can invite your friends round who also have dance mats. As a single player game it really comes down to how you get on with button bashing as a lot of events require you to do this. That said I was pleased with the events that differed from this tried and trusted method as the controls they opted for worked well. As the only official game of the 2004 Olympic Games it's not going to have any competition for your money but it doesn't really matter because Eurocom have created a good single player game that happens to have a superb multiplayer game in the shape of Party, which makes it a must if you happen to have a dance mat and a few friends.

Athens 2004 is probably as good as we could expect from an Olympics based title, and indeed Sony have captured the essence of the biggest sporting event in the world. Some interesting controls are welcome and this game is recommended.

Track & Field games were once a standard genre in the gaming world. Back in the day, it wasn't uncommon to lose the use of a couple of your fingers for a few days after a lengthy bout of T&F action. Konami cranked out an ESPN-branded track game a few years ago, but for the most part, if you wanted to go for the gold, you would have had to have blown the dust off of an old console. While Athens offers a few ways to develop carpal tunnel syndrome thanks to some old-school-style events -- most of the running events have you pounding the X and O buttons until your wrist throbs -- it lets you shoot for a spot on the podium in a mess of other events that will test more than just your digital endurance.

The Olympics of 1988 in Seoul are the only ones I still remember vividly. It was Frans Peeters, an ordinary factory worker, that got the Belgians a bronze medal for his outstanding performance in the discipline of clay-pigeon shooting. In those days it was “Duck hunt” on the Nintendo that enabled you to shoot ducks and skeets on your TV. Today, you can try out (amongst dozens of other sports) a modernised equivalent in Athens 2004.

Athens 2004 is not a game you’ll be playing for long, and we prophesise more than a few copies turning up after the Olympics is finally over on EBay. Naturally though, with a few mates around the house Athens 2004 is still a fantastic multiplayer title. And as the games draw ever closer we also see a few PS2 controller manufacturers rubbing their hands with glee as well. Let the games begin!

While it has a number of shortcomings, this is still a decent Olympics title that’s manages to offer a variety of events while not burning out players by focusing on button mashing mechanics. Although you may find that your interest in playing it may wane once the Olympic fervor of this year dies down, Athens 2004 will still provide enough entertainment to get you through the next month and a half until the games end.

Should you buy it? Well, there's little alternative out there if you're hankering after some old-fashioned twitch gaming wrapped up in beautifully presented threads, but our advice is to make sure you've got some mates to play it with first, or it's likely to end up as one of those titles that you'll quickly tire of if you're on your lonesome.

Für Multiplayerfreunde und erfahrene Olympioniken sicherlich kein Griff ins Klo, trotzdem sollte man sich überlegen ob man wirklich 60 Euro für eine magere Minispielsammlung berappen will. Grafisch eher schlecht als recht, ein Kommentator der nicht selten absoluten Unsinn von sich gibt und ein Gameplay aus dem letzten Jahrtausend verhelfen diesem Titel leider nicht zur Goldmedaille. Erstaunlicherweise schafft es das Spiel wenigstens, Multiplayerfans gut zu unterhalten und gerade durch die innovative Tanzmattensteuerung so etwas wie einen Wettkampfgedanken zu vermitteln – nichtsdestotrotz wäre hier mehr drin gewesen.

When speaking about video games based on the Olympic Games, the game that most often springs to mind is Konami's seminal 1983 button masher, Track & Field. That game covered a fair variety of Olympic events by subscribing to the notion that the mechanics of most of them could be reduced to simply hitting two buttons really, really fast. And, in a way, this formula worked pretty well. It has been a long, long time since Track & Field, but 989's latest Olympic offering, Athens 2004, is still operating from much the same playbook. Although you could play Track & Field one quarter at a time, Athens 2004 will demand a bit more of your money up front, and, ultimately, what it's offering isn't that much better.

Multiplayer is really the only thing that shines in Athens. There?s a lot of fun to be had getting 2-3 people together to compete. The single-player modes just don?t offer enough depth to keep you interested for very long. An online component of some sort, even if it just tracked the World/Olympic records would have made things a lot more interesting. Overall, I just kept looking for more to do, and it ended coming up short.

As the only console game licensed by the International Olympic Committee, Athens 2004 offers a great deal for fans of the Summer Olympics. With 25 difference events, several modes of play, and up to four player simultaneous fun, Athens definitely has its moments. However, if you're not into the athletics scene, or have become accustomed to old school classics such as the Track & Field series from Konami, the amount of realism in Athens 2004 may be too much for you.

Athens 2004 is the only officially licensed Olympic videogame. As a novelty it's not a bad way to kill a day but I wouldn't recommend paying full price for it. This is the kind of game that I would expect to find in a cereal box. At least that way I'd have some cereal to look forward to for the rest of the week.

Athens has its fair share of problems. AI that, for certain events is the most evil thing created in the history of the world, and for others is as easy as getting Paris Hilton into the sack; the events being too similar; graphical issues. But there is some worth in this game if you have a lot of parties. Those things get somewhat nullified when there are friends about. With some friends, I guess the score can be made around 7 or 8, but on your own things are just too tedious and too difficult to make it worth your while. If you are having a party, you could definitely rent this game and not be infuriated with the single player, and only enjoy the good parts of this game: the multiplayer.

Here's a game that's probably not on your radar: with high profile titles like Spider-Man 2, and The Chronicles of Riddick out on the shelves, you probably barely even noticed that the Olympics are almost here. (I know I didn't until I was assigned this review.) And with the Olympics comes a slew of Olympic tie-ins; the videogame one is called Athens 2004, and it's by 989 Sports. Hold your cheers till the end, please.

Assuming button mashers like Athens 2004 retain their popularity, I believe I have an idea for a videogame that will sell hundreds of millions of copies. My reasoning goes like this: Since we all seem doomed to play these wrist obliterators until the end of time (a rare and wonderfully tortuous experience that requires the application of little thought and negative skill), why don't we broaden our horizons and attempt to cater to a wider masochistic audience by selling a game that's just a ticking clock and a car battery with a pair of jumper cables?

Olimpíadas recentes dos videogames têm sido notoriamente fracas, e "Athens 2004" não é uma exceção. É uma pena que apesar de suas boas idéias criativas o game tropece em tantos erros.

Games based on the Olympics have changed very little since the days of Epyx Summer games and Konami’s Track & Field series, and this is not a good thing. Athens 2004’s party mode may interest some dance pad owners looking for a different kind of video game exercise, but the main game is not much fun unless you enjoy pressing X and O repeatedly until your thumbs hurt. If you want an Olympic-based video game, you’ll be better off if you wait for Beijing 2008 and see if the Wii version gets the fencing game people were talking about after the controller was first revealed.

Like its Track & Field predecessor from the NES heyday, Athens 2004 basically boils down to blistering button mashing. Most games are played by simply pressing [X] and [C] in rapid succession to gain speed or build up a power meter. Athens 2004 is dance mat?compatible (which makes for some sweaty/smelly fun), but only 10 events are playable with this fat-burning peripheral. Up to four can play simultaneously with either joypads or dance mats, and the competitive element greatly expands the Fun Factor of this title.

I’ll tell you what happened. Despite a four year gap between Olympic video games, no one gave this game any thought until probably sometime last year, when suddenly the IOC and Sony worked out the licensing fees. That’s really the only way I can explain Athens 2004’s total disregard for interesting gameplay. It simply feels like it was rushed out in time to capitalize on the upcoming Games, merely some advance merchandising rather than a full-fledged, smartly developed sports gaming endeavor. Maybe they’ll get it right in 2008.

Kid factor: It's a clean game for kids because it's completely safe and a little educational. There is no cussing, violence, or blood. The game'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'll probably get frustrated early because the challenge is considerable in many events. I can endorse that the game is inoffensive, but I can'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.