Vancouver 2010 [PS3]

Videogames based on the Olympics have almost always been a lackluster effort. With gameplay that typically hinges on mashing the same button or jiggling the same analog stick over and over, the experience sours quickly. Vancouver 2010 from Eurocom hopes to change that disappointing standard with events that are more skill and timing based. While the list of 14 events is undoubtedly short, the four that I recently got to test out on a press trip to Park City felt as though they were in fine form.

A big step in the right direction in terms of delivering an exhilarating Olympic videogame is the advent of the first-person viewpoint. By tapping circle (or B on Xbox 360) players instantly warp into the heads of their athletes. Here you'll find motion blur effects, wonderfully detailed lighting and an awesome sense of speed. You'll hear your athlete's breath hasten as the event goes on and you'll even be treated to a slightly altered view of the terrain since you'll be looking through goggles instead of a standard camera. When you first pick up Vancouver 2010 when it ships in January of next year, I'd advise you to instantly hop into the first-person view. It really is a cool way to play.

The four events that were available to us at the Olympic training facility in Park City were Men's Downhill Skiing, Snowboard Cross, Large Hill Ski Jump, and Two-man Bobsledding. The bobsledding activity was probably the most exciting of the bunch. Traveling at over 80 miles per hour down an iced track while using the first-person view is solid fun and, according to the random Olympic athletes on-hand in between training runs, does a good job of emulating the real thing. Controlling the bobsled utilized both analog sticks to turn the sled while the start is home to the typical button-mashing. After you round each corner you're given a score out of 100 that lets you know how efficiently you managed the curve. Just about every event I tried had this sort of instant feedback which should help players to realize faults and correct them later on.

Ski Jumping was an entirely different beast thanks to the fact that there's really no steering to be done. To begin you have to tap X (A on Xbox 360) when the wind is in your favor which triggers your skier to stand, then tap X again when a meter reaches its fullest point to launch with the most power. From here you're racing down a massive hill and will need to hold X in order to fill a meter as closely to 100 percent as possible. The trick is, if you start filling the meter too soon or go past the 100 percent mark, your launch at the end of the hill won't be nearly as impressive. Once you're airborne you'll need to gently tap on the left and right triggers to balance your skier while still minding your height off the ground. A quick tap of the X button right before you slam back down to the earth ends your attempt. You're graded on every aspect of this little adventure and that will determine both your distance and style scores. In my experience the Ski Jump event was a great competition to have amongst friends, but I'm wondering how well it will hold up when playing by yourself.

The last two events, Downhill Skiing and Snowboard Cross, were actually very similar to one another. Though downhill is a solo exercise and Snowboard Cross is with three other boarders, they used nearly identical control schemes. The right trigger is used to crouch to gain speed and the left trigger is used for sharp turning at the expense of speed while the left analog governs steering. Snowboarding adds in a jumping mechanic that has you tap the X button as close to the peak of a jump as possible. The skiing differentiated itself by forcing you through series of gates, just like in the real games. While both of these events were fun, for whatever reason I didn't find them to be as immersive as the previous two. On the upside Snowboard Cross is one of the few activities that will allow for simultaneous multiplayer (online or local) thanks to the nature of the sport. Other events are constrained to alternating turns because that's what the real athletes will be forced to do in Vancouver.

I'm not going to come out and say that Vancouver 2010 is the savior for the disappointments of Olympic Games past, but it certainly feels as though it's headed in the right direction to correcting the wrongs from yesteryear. With a sharp visual style and the impressive first-person view that you can use in every event, fans of the winter sports should give this one a look. The one downside that Vancouver 2010 will need to overcome is the fairly paltry offering of only 14 events. Heck, the recently released Mario & Sonic at the Winter Olympics had a whopping 27.

Vancouver 2010 is scheduled to ship on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in January 2010 to coincide with the Olympic Games.

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