Vancouver 2010 Review

By Dan Whitehead Published 18 January, 2010

Thin ice.

Version tested: Xbox 360

It's unfortunate that this frosty sports simulation has arrived just as everyone in Britain is thoroughly sick of bloody snow, but unlucky timing should be the least of its worries. The button-mashing, stick-waggling sports genre was never likely to reveal many hidden depths, but even by the limited standards of this peculiar subset of gaming Vancouver 2010 is a slender experience.

Some of the blame for its malnourished state can be directed at the event itself, which is a pale icy shadow of its more famous Olympic counterpart. Lower in profile, narrower in scope, it doesn't offer much room for a developer to impress: while the game of Beijing 2008 overstretched itself with 38 events, ranging from judo to javelin, Vancouver 2010 can only offer 14, the majority of which involve sliding down mountains as gracefully as possible.

With so little variety, the simplistic gameplay soon becomes a problem. Unless you're pathologically addicted to leaderboards, you will have accumulated lots of silver medals and exhausted the game's shallow charms before the opening ceremony of the real thing has finished.

That's not to say effort hasn't been made in some areas. The animation is impressive, presumably motion-captured given the realistic tics and twitches that the virtual athletes display while waiting for the events to begin, and the crisp white snow and azure blue sky fit in well with SEGA's clean arcade aesthetic. The game looks lovely and inviting.

'Vancouver 2010' Screenshot 1

Just in case you forget where you are, or when.

Most of the events are even well-implemented in terms of control. They're just ill-suited to videogames or castrated by the need to be a serious official game of a serious sporting event. It may be the first game in history to feature snowboarders who jump sensibly and with the minimum of fuss.

Apart from an incongruous and tepid pop-punk soundtrack the whole game feels starchy and dry, as if anything resembling actual excitement or personality would be the equivalent of loudly cracking off an enormous echoing fart through the sacred rings.

Such reverence is strange, since the game never once feels Olympian. There's no structure to the game - just a bland list of events that can be played in practice or competition modes, in whatever order you fancy. You get a little national anthem scene for the winner of the gold after each event, but there's absolutely no sense of occasion, no ceremonial highs or even the illusion that you're taking part in a major global competition.

'Vancouver 2010' Screenshot 2

Not as good as Horace Goes Skiing. FACT.

Everything feels small, but it's the repetition that sinks it. When you start the first skiing event - Men's Downhill - the effect is impressive. By the time you've played through Men's Super-G, Ladies Giant Slalom and Ladies Slalom, the impact has dimmed. After a few more turns, you'll be stifling a yawn and crying out for something more.

There are a mere handful of courses shared between the various downhill events and, once you've spent an hour or so mastering their familiar corners and curves, they become a pointless exercise in the most basic time trial mechanics imaginable.

The repetition plumbs ridiculous depths with Bobsled, Luge and Skeleton though, which are almost exactly the same. The only minor point of difference comes from having to use both sticks to adjust the position of two bobsled riders rather than the single condom-clad athletes of the others, but it has a negligible effect on the gameplay.

These are sports that may require unique skills and strengths in real life, but when you're steering with a joypad rather than your body weight all nuance is lost. The fact that all three events use the same track makes it even harder to tell them apart. It's not an isolated complaint, either. Ladies Ski Cross is identical to Men's Snowboard Cross, for instance; the same controls, on the same course, but with a different character.

On the rare occasions when the game does venture timidly out from its comfort zone, the results are inevitably mixed. The ski jump is a thrill for a few tries, but it doesn't take long to master the timing of the rudimentary button-presses required and then it becomes little more than a bite-sized distraction. If you played the demo, then you've seen all this event has to offer, too.

Ladies Freestyle Aerials, meanwhile, uses a similar system to the wretched diving events in the Beijing 2008 game. Using both sticks to align rotating rings and moving buttons is stiff and awkward enough to be irritating, and it rarely feels fair, let alone fun. The two ice-skating events offer only long, tedious button-bashing circuits around the rink with slippery steering, which may be accurate but doesn't really translate to a thrilling videogame experience.

'Vancouver 2010' Screenshot 3

Purists still argue that Sledge Humping should not be an Olympic sport. They may have a point.

There's a tempting "Challenges" option on the menu but, sure enough, that's just another way to rehash the same events even more times. You'll be doing the same races down the same courses, but trying to hit a specific top speed, or beat a certain time, or hit snowmen to keep the clock from counting down. You almost want to pat the developer on the head for making an effort, but it's still the same mouthfuls regurgitated and served up over and over, and it will take more than a sprig of parsley to make the meal appetising.

What's most interesting is what's been left out. Despite the stark lack of variety, the winter events that could have supplied this much-needed change of pace have been mysteriously ignored. Figure skating may not be the most marketable sport around, but with a little influence from the numerous skateboarding games out there, it could have broadened the package.

'Vancouver 2010' Screenshot 4

This was actually the view from my window, last week.

Ditto for ice hockey. This may be well-served by standalone titles, but even in a stripped-down form it could only make this more substantial. The long-haul stamina trial of a cross-country ski-and-shoot biathlon would be difficult to fit into the glorified mini-game template, but that's precisely why it's so sorely missed. And was there really no way to find space for a bit of curling?

Everything about the Winter Olympics that can't be crammed into the narrow confines of a frostbitten racing engine has been swept under the rug, and what has been included is undone by brazen repetition. Whether because of time or budget limitations, or just a simple decision to keep the development as simple as possible, Vancouver 2010 is irrevocably diminished. There's no faulting the production values, but there's no way to recommend such a painfully thin game.

3 / 10

Read the Eurogamer.net scoring policy
Picture of Dan.

About Dan Whitehead

Dan has been writing for Eurogamer since 2006 and specialises in RPGs, shooters and games for children. His bestest game ever is Julian Gollop's Chaos.

Read more articles from Dan by visiting the Dan Whitehead archive page.

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Comments (51) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • cianchristopher #1 2 years ago

    Sounds great - where do I sign?

  • romanista #2 2 years ago

    happy i bought Marip& Sonic at the winter games, a great sporting game, especially on the DS.. with the dream events making it more fun..

  • abcd #3 2 years ago

    I thought the demo was ok. It certainly gave you sense of speeding down a ski jump....

    Shame about the review, I did quite fancy this game.

  • Diogo_Ribeiro #4 2 years ago

    I wonder how many people will lap this up because it looks like a "serious" winter sports game and pass by the likes of Sonic and Mario at the WO because it looks "childish" and is on the Wii.

  • Earl_G #5 2 years ago

    Ugh, bring back Epyx!

  • jambo74 #6 2 years ago

    Sorry, no money, no Ski

  • menage #7 2 years ago

    The demo was fucking crap. One downhill race (left right, hit gates, end) and one lousy skjump (face down) and then I got thrown back to the dashboard. Deleted.

  • groovychainsaw #8 2 years ago

    There used to be a brilliant biathlon game many years ago. you pushed on through the snowy bits, managing your stamina bar, then, depending on how knackered you were ,your gun sights would be wavering all over the place and you had to control your breathing before you ran up too much time. 10 points to anyone who can tell me what it was!

  • abcd #9 2 years ago

    groovychainsaw

    Lillehammer '94

  • El-Dev #10 2 years ago

    Mmmmmm....should I get the PS3 or 360 version of this?

  • jebus #11 2 years ago

    I actually like Beijing and especially the diving

  • Johnsters #12 2 years ago

    @groovychainsaw
    Winter Games? - As Earl_G says, bring back Epyx.

    I noticed on one of the screen shots, Horace was referenced. Along with Chequered Flag, and Jet Set Willy, Xmas 85' was all about Horace for me.

  • Benno #13 2 years ago

    sold

  • squaylor #14 2 years ago

    Winter Olympiad '88 on the Atari ST? It sounds about the same as this one, in terms of gameplay mechanics

  • imamazed #15 2 years ago

    Olympics games NEVER review well it seems. Although a 3 is particularly low.

  • AllenSpawn #16 2 years ago

    @groovy chainsaw
    Winter games.... Definately.
    Remember playing that loads on my c64.

    Now , if they'd only remake World Games, with the cliff diving;-)

  • Ignatius_Cheese #17 2 years ago

    Lillehammer '94! Now that was a classic Winter Olympics game!

    Its a sorry sign when the Mario & Sonic "version" is better than the real thing...

  • Petulant_Radish #18 2 years ago

    They should just release Olympic Gold on XBLA and PSN, that was the best one I remember playing...granted I haven't played that many but still!

  • parablax #19 2 years ago

    I actually enjoyed the demo. Very good sense of speed on the downhill. But yeah like the reviewer said, not enough variety to warrant a full purchase.

  • Shinetop #20 2 years ago

    It's unfortunate that this frosty sports simulation has arrived just as everyone in Britain is thoroughly sick of bloody snow

    It's also unfortunate that Eurogamer still fails to realise that Europe consists of more than Britain.

  • snick #21 2 years ago

    It's also unfortunate that Eurogamer still fails to realise that Europe consists of more than Britain.

    Go read the .fr or .de versions if you're feeling quite so racialised =)

  • IneptPercy #22 2 years ago

    Still remember winter games on the C64, looks like more fun.

    Off in search of emulator...

  • jonsaan #23 2 years ago

    These games always end up being roughly the same. Even so, I bet it is a lot of fun with a load of people gathered round one console. But then so are most things.

  • Zebula77 #24 2 years ago

    Bah! Bring back those old Epyx-developed sports games! Those would be good for a laugh or two.

  • Shinetop #25 2 years ago

    Go read the .fr or .de versions if you're feeling quite so racialised =)

    I wasn't aware this was the .co.uk version.

  • UncleGrueber #26 2 years ago

    This is an extremely poor review. As someone who has the game, it certainly desrves a better rating than 3.

    While I agree that the amount of events is limited, there can be no argument that the developers have done a great job of accurately representing each event virtually. They have made an effort to move away from mindless button bashing in an attempt to allow skill to prevail.

    As mentioned, graphics and animation are excellent. There is a great impression of speed in the faster events such as downhill and bobsleigh. Then there's the argument of the repetitive nature of the events, - "The repetition plumbs ridiculous depths with Bobsled, Luge and Skeleton though" - sorry to break it to the reviewer, but those events are similar by their very nature.

    "These are sports that may require unique skills and strengths in real life, but when you're steering with a joypad rather than your body weight all nuance is lost." - So I guess the reviewer is looking for the 'Tony Hawk: Ride' version of this game then? Or maybe they'd like to use telepathy control instead?

    With regard to the inclusion of an ice hockey event, dois the reviewer realise how much development would have to go into reproducing a sport like that. EA and 2K Sports have entire departments dedicated to producing hockey games each year. Would anybody really appreciate a half-assed attempt at an ice hockey simulation within this package.

    To sum up, I feel that a rating of 3 is an insult to the makers of this game. It may be limited, and possibly over-priced for the amount of gameplay, but it's well produced and good fun to play, particularly if you are one to remember the old Epyx 'Winter Games'. And it's a helluva lot better than the rather terrible 'Winter Sports 2010'.

  • T4RG4 #27 2 years ago

    Horace... now we're getting somewhere!

  • Shinetop #28 2 years ago

    @UncleGrueber: While that post and your postcount suggest "disgruntled Vancouver 2010 developer", I still can't help but agree somewhat.
    Edited by 1 at 18/01/10 @ 13:59

  • kangarootoo #29 2 years ago

    @groovychainsaw

    I remember that Winter Games event. I think all of Epyx's stuff was pretty strong back then.

    I got addicted to the pole vault event in Summer Games. I think 26m was my record.

    Those sports games were the precursor to the new family mainstream movement we are seeing today. I used to play those games a lot with my dad, sister and a friend or two from up the road.


    /wobbly vision flashback to my childhood

    [link url=http://www.mobygames.com/game/c64/winter-games/screens hots
    ]http://ww w.mobygames.com/game/c64/winter...[/link]
    [link url=http://www.mobygames.com/game/c64/summer-games/screens hots
    ]http://ww w.mobygames.com/game/c64/summer...[/link]
    http://ww w.mobygames.com/game/world-game...

  • cherryuk #30 2 years ago

    Nagano Olympics 98 was good on the PS1 but that was by Konami.

  • riz23 #31 2 years ago

    Sega's Winter Heat on the Saturn is the pinnacle of this type of thing. Never been bettered.

  • UncleGrueber #32 2 years ago

    @Shinetop
    I can assure you, I have no connection to the 'Vancouver 2010' developers or publishers, etc., although I can see why it might look that way from my post. I'm just a gamer who thinks the review paints an overly negative picture of this game. There are other review sites with fairer opinions on the game.

  • kangarootoo #33 2 years ago

    @UncleGrueber

    You make some good points, however...

    "So I guess the reviewer is looking for the 'Tony Hawk: Ride' version of this game then? Or maybe they'd like to use telepathy control instead?"

    is a particularly feeble strawman and I'm sure you can do better.

    That aside, I agree tha review score does seem a tad harsh, but the individual issues raised all seem valid to me. Overall the game may well accurately simulate the various events, but I get the impression that the reviewer is simply questioning whether the end result is fun.

    Right at the start the review draws attention to the relatively low number of events. The clear suggestion is that if you are including relatively few events, why not choose events that are all quite distinct from each other? That Bobsled, Luge and Skeleton are very similar in real life is not much of a defense, when the accusation is in fact that the dev should not have chosen to include three events that are very similar in real life, when the number of events represented in their game is relatively low.

    This problem seems to raise its head a few times in the review, to the extent that the 14 event types only really seem to include a handful of gameplay variants. Again, I agree with you that the score seems harsh, but not hugely so given the apparent lack of value for money.


    As for...

    "I feel that a rating of 3 is an insult to the makers of this game"

    Well, I'm sure they will get over it. A dev without a thick skin is in the wrong business imo.

  • NewbieZilla #34 2 years ago

    Will they release a GOTY edition?

  • Super_Zee #35 2 years ago

    ...the whole game feels starchy and dry, as if anything resembling actual excitement or personality would be the equivalent of loudly cracking off an enormous echoing fart through the sacred rings.

    Welcome to Vancouver, the city equivalent of a supermodel - amazing to look at, but seriously lacking in personality and excitement.

  • 3william56 #36 2 years ago

    It's a bit harsh to complain about lack of variety in bobsled tracks - as there is only one in the real event. Reverse tracks in bobs don't really work too well...

    (I'm guessing the skiing is the same - each event is only meant to have one track for the 'Limpics.)

  • UncleGrueber #37 2 years ago

    @kangarootoo
    "So I guess the reviewer is looking for the 'Tony Hawk: Ride' version of this game then? Or maybe they'd like to use telepathy control instead?"

    is a particularly feeble strawman and I'm sure you can do better.
    That may be your opiniion, which is fair enough, but I fail to see what point the reviewer was making. Most physical activities have subtleties are difficult to reproduce with a game controller. Why state that "steering with a joypad rather than your body weight" is an issue? Playing a driving game without a steering wheel isn't ideal, but still can be an enjoyable experience, even with a joypad.
    Right at the start the review draws attention to the relatively low number of events. The clear suggestion is that if you are including relatively few events, why not choose events that are all quite distinct from each other? That Bobsled, Luge and Skeleton are very similar in real life is not much of a defense, when the accusation is in fact that the dev should not have chosen to include three events that are very similar in real life, when the number of events represented in their game is relatively low.
    Well I believe the developers probably sat down before making the game and decided that there was a limit to the amount of events that they could include in the game. I'd say their choice came down to a few factors like, which events would be the most interesting to the player, which one's could they re-use a template/engine for, which ones would be feasible due to time/cost constraints. Maybe if you were to be citical you could say that they should have given more production time to the game to allow for more events, but we don't know the financial situation there.
    "I feel that a rating of 3 is an insult to the makers of this game"

    Well, I'm sure they will get over it. A dev without a thick skin is in the wrong business imo.
    I'm not so sure. A positive or negative review can help make or break a game, and in turn, a developer.
    Edited by 2 at 18/01/10 @ 15:38

  • SliderNL #38 2 years ago

    I actually played it with my frieds (who owns a gamestore) and the crazy thing is, it's a crap game but sells like crazy. The version for the Wii is way better (hold on did I actually say that a game is better on the Wii, sad but true I guess).

  • DanWhitehead #39 2 years ago

    "To sum up, I feel that a rating of 3 is an insult to the makers of this game."

    To be blunt, the purpose of a review isn't to make developers feel warm and fuzzy but to let the readers know if a game is worth their time and money. This game really isn't, in my opinion, and I'm not about to give it a score that might recommend people buy it anyway, just to spare the feelings of the people who worked on it - lovely as they surely are. That the real events are limited and repetitive isn't really a defence of this game, but a clue that perhaps the Winter Olympics isn't best suited to a full-price videogame in the first place.

  • BabyJesus #40 2 years ago

    Ouch I wanted this to be good.

    Anyone know of a decent winter sports sim for my olympic fix?

  • UncleGrueber #41 2 years ago

    I'm not trying to say it's a great game - it's not. There is plenty to criticise. And I'm definitely not saying you should compromise your review based on how the developer might take it. That would be reprehensible.

    While I probably agree that it is over-priced for what you get, my argument is that it's better than the "3" you gave it. However, everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
    Edited by 1 at 18/01/10 @ 17:03

  • ozallez #42 2 years ago

    i liked the ski mode, its just too short. Now if someone made an FIS World Cup game...

  • Razzajazz #43 2 years ago

    Everybody's mentioned the old Epyx games, and I know it's the antithesis of the Winter Olympics, but I'm surprised no-one has mentioned California Games yet! That was the best one IMO, I wonder if I've still got it on Hackeysack....

  • smelly #44 2 years ago

    Quote : "To sum up, I feel that a rating of 3 is an insult to the makers of this game."


    To sum up my feelings, dont get so tied up on the score.. read the words.

  • smelly #45 2 years ago

    Lack of biathlon is a missed opportunity imho

  • blunted #46 2 years ago

    Not a single mention of online or local multiplayer?

    It's a pretty sparse game, but this review seems to be missing large chunks as well.
    Edited by 1 at 18/01/10 @ 22:26

  • Rodchenko #47 2 years ago

    I agree with UncleGrueber in that the call to include an ice hockey mode was somewhat naive. Had the dev team actually decided to take on the ridiculous challenge that lies in modelling and programming such a mode let alone setting aside resources which occupy other, much bigger teams for an entire year, I am sure Dan would have notched the score down another point for its lacklustre and 'repetitive' implementation.

    As for the demo: I pretty much liked the way they handled the sensation of speed and it also had some clever and convincing use of rumble. OTOH, the fact that you are thrown out of the ski jump event after one (failed) attempt is unforgivable.

  • Stegofreak #48 2 years ago

    I agree with cherryuk. I even went out an picked up a second hand copy of Nagano a few years back. Curling FTW!

  • mastersly #49 2 years ago

    Vancouver 2010 ????? hell no !!! Winter games for Commodore 64 Hell yeah !!!!!!
    Edited by 1 at 20/01/10 @ 07:51

  • metalangel #50 2 years ago

    Best winter sports game was the bizarre French title 'Superski 2' on PC and perhaps Amiga.

    The world does need a figure skating game. Alas, the only effort I'm aware of (Michelle Kwan Figure Skating) was a horrendously simpified affair in which you just chose a list of moves and then pressed 'enter' whenever a little meter passed into a coloured box. Even Wii-loving halfwits would have found it too simple.

  • normannormal #51 2 years ago

    Got to agree that this review is far too harsh. I agree that 14 events is thin. The reviewer presumably understands that the bobsleigh etc is only going to have the olympic track as it;s an official game. The events that are there, with the exception of the Aerials, which are pretty crap, are all good. They look good, they play well, the control is nice, the feel of speed is good. The challenge events are an extra level to the game which are entertaining (to a varying degree) and not mentioning up to 4 player online at once, or the fact that if you and a friend both race the downhill you race him on the track at the same time, miss decent chunks of the game.
    By Eurogamers scoring policy a 3 is a "bad" game. It isn;t a bad game. It's a good but pretty thin game. That's got to be more like a 5 right? Eurogamer gave Beijing a 5 and that, imo, isn;t as good as this.

    The comments on the impact on the dev team - reviews like this affect metacritic, and in this case drags it down a fair bit. Metacritic is used by retailers, buyers and customers to "inform" them. But this review is skewing that by being innacurate. So it's not just their feelings that get hurt, it's also their sales, and for a gun for hire dev outfit like Eurocom that could be damaging.