London 2012: Gameplay Review and Features for Olympics Video Game

London 2012 brings motion controls and a less thumb-destroying control system to the world of Olympic video-gaming. Most gamers are familiar with old-school games like Track & Field and even the more recent Beijing 2008.

Those games required a ton of button-mashing to succeed at nearly every event.

They carried some initial appeal because of the novelty effect, and because of the inspiration from the real-life Olympic Games. But how many people kept playing Beijing 2008 much after the Olympic games were done?

I would venture to say probably not a ton of virtual athletes.

For this Olympiad, Jamie Bailey, the producer of London 2012, had his sights set higher than that. Bailey and his team wanted to create an experience that had depth, and one that offered enjoyment beyond these specific Olympic games.

He speaks about that goal in an interview with David Jenkins of Metro. There are 45-plus events in the game, and they all require a varied approach to attain success. Click here to see all of the events.

With that, let's take a closer look at London 2012, the official video game of the London 2012 Summer Olympics.

The Facts

Release Date: June 26

Format Availability: Xbox360, PS3 & PC

Publisher and Developer: Sega

The Core Components

Graphics and Animation

This is easily the best-looking Olympic-style video game to date. The environments have depth, with a decent degree of attention paid to the all-important lighting and shading aspects. Take a look at these impressive, scenic screenshots:

The player models have life and personality, which is an improvement from some of the other Olympic-style games that had crash-test-dummy-style player models.

These virtual athletes actually look and feel real. Take a look at these closeups of some of the virtual and fictitious athletes in the game. 

The animation is a little less than fluid, especially in some of the sprinting and running events, but it's not a grave hindrance. Making the game pretty is always a good way to attract gamers, but keeping their attention comes down to how compelling the game is on the sticks.

Graphics and Animation Rating: 7.5

Gameplay 

As Bailey tells us in this video, the gameplay has some button-mashing elements, but it's more about pacing than it is about simply pounding the buttons. Each event is different and was designed to have depth:

I can tell you this is 100 percent accurate. I've put in a good number of hours with the game, and I can attest that their mission has been accomplished—at least as much as can be reasonably expected.

Most of the events do still require some button-mashing, but true to Bailey's word, none of them will kill your thumbs.

For example, in the 100-meter dash, which is generally the poster event for thumb abuse, you only rapidly tap the buttons to build up speed; once you get to top speed, success in the event is about finding the right pace.

If you continue to tap feverishly, it will only slow your sprinter down.

There are elements like that in other events as well. In the swimming events, once you tap the button to get your initial push-off, the actual strokes are done with a rhythmic alternation of the right and left sticks.

Going too fast in these events will again stall your athlete.

Here is some gameplay from those two events:

As you can see, you can edit your athletes. In these videos, Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt were created, but they are not included in the game.

In some of the events that find your virtual athlete stationary, the dynamics change. Timing and judgement completely replace button-mashing, and it's a cool departure

This said, there is no way to completely remove button-mashing from the genre, but I think Bailey's team has done a good job balancing the timing and accuracy in the control system.

The game also features a motion-controlled mode of play. It's called Party Play, and it's not designed to be a realistic simulation of the events.

Only some of the events are available in this mode (16 to be exact). Even though the party events aren't simulations, you will still work up quite a sweat. It's the biggest reason I'm writing this review with a towel around my neck.

It's practically designed to be something a group of friends or family can enjoy, and not likely to be the mode of play that gets the most rotation on the disc.

Gameplay Rating: 8

Sound and Presentation

Everything you would expect in terms of presentation in a Olympic-style game is here, and a little more. Here's a video of Day 1 in the Olympic Games mode. This captures the experience fairly well:

The commentating is actually not bad, considering there is a limited amount of variance with the athletes.

The athletes are fictitious, but the commentators don't say their names, which is an ever-so-slight bummer.

The music is par for the course, not annoying but not something that will have you inspired or bobbing your head, either. A hotter or more epic soundtrack would have been a nice addition.

That said, Sega does take complete advantage of the license privileges that come with being the official video game of the Summer Olympics.

There are authentic overlays and attractive menus throughout.

The uniforms seem to be rendered with solid authenticity, and there are even options to unlock other styles of the uniforms. It's clear that the development team wasn't lazy in this aspect of the game's creation.

Sound and Presentation Rating: 7

Options, Modes and Online Play

There are four modes of play.

There is the Olympic Games mode, which gives the full experience: podium ceremonies, two events to participate in per day, etc. This mode could have been augmented and given more longevity by including an option to turn the experience into a career mode. Training and mini-games would have also given this mode more staying power.

There is also the Events Play mode. This allows you to make a playlist of the events you want to play in a single sitting.

Then there is the aforementioned Party Play mode. This mode allows you to use motion controls or the controller. Here is a video of the events from this mode, using the Kinect:

It's a decent Kinect experience in that it gets the body flowing, but this isn't necessarily the most compelling Kinect or Playstation Move experience.

However, it will likely satisfy the party crowd it's targeting.

Finally, there is the online component. It basically equates to a worldwide leader board. You can compete in several events, and try to represent yourself and your country with the best scores.

You are able to input your home country so it appears in the national leader board, which provides you with some geographical pride.

Overall, the depth of the modes of play has the most room for improvement in this game.

Options, Modes and Online Rating: 6.5

Overall

Sega did an excellent job adding some strategy to the gameplay, but more depth to the Olympic Games mode would have fully accomplished their goal of making this title more than a Olympics-time novelty experience.

As it is, the goal was partially attained, and it's still a fun experience. The price is a little low as well. The game is currently listed on Gamestop.com at $49.99, which is $10 less than most new releases.

Overall Rating: 7.25