Beijing 2008 features a list of nearly 40 events, from the 100-meter dash to table tennis. If you are looking for specific athletes, you will be disappointed, the comptetitors are all generic. Most events are covered, including all four swim strokes and 2 different diving events. The strokes, however, are limited to only one distance per event. It would have been nice for Sega to allow longer distances, such as the 400-meter freestyle, to test players further. It would’ve also been nice to see Individual Medley or team relay, because nothing would feel better than recreating Jason Lezak’s amazing closing speed to steal the 4x100 relay from the French. The game features most track events (except for the long-distance events) ranging from 100m to 1500m, and includes the 100m hurdles for women and 110m hurdles for men. There is a good variety of field events and 6 gymnastic events. The game even features 4 shooting events, weightlifting, judo, cycling, kayaking, and table tennis.

The controls for most events are nice, allowing two different options for most. The 100m dash can be done either by alternating A and B or wiggling the right or left stick back and forth. For swimming, you can rotate the right stick clockwise and left stick counter clockwise to propel your swimmer forward. This is good for players like me who can’t press A and B fast enough to keep up with the AI competitors. Both the swimming and short-distance track events feature a launch mini-game. Holding the left or right trigger will fill the launch bar, which will propel you from the blocks when full. This is a nice touch, but it can end up costing you the race. If the bar fills too early, you will get a false start and possibly a disqualification. If you wait too long, you can start way behind the pack, which is a huge hindrance in short-races like the 100-meters. A nice touch would’ve been to slow-down time at the start or have the runner start automatically, as many times it is tough to get back the time lost.

The field events feature controls that feel like they mimic the event well. The hammer throw has you try to keep a marker inside of your meter to build up power, causing you to rotate the stick as though you are rotating the hammer. The high jump involves button input as your athlete’s feet hit different spots on the run-up.  The gymnastics events have a somewhat uneven difficulty; the floor exercise involves button input, while the rings requires alternating of the left and right triggers to hold form, then match the marker to change moves. The manual provides little help with Judo, but with some experimentation, it is not hard to master. Kayaking is near impossible; using the two control sticks to mimic the paddles is a nice idea, but it is extremely difficult to get down the precise movements that are required for success.

The main game mode in Beijing 2008 is, of course, the Olympic competition. Sega decided not to follow the traditional mold of Olympic Games, allowing the user to compete in all events and go for the medals. The game instead gives you daily goals to meet, and if you don’t complete them, you get a game over and must start again at the beginning of the day. This is an interesting set-up, but can sometimes get difficult. While the first goal is something simple like qualifying for the final of one event, the farther into the Games you go, the more difficult the goal gets, such as winning 4 gold medals in one day. The game starts by allowing you to allocate stat points to make your athletes faster, stronger, and more agile.

If you have done practice mode before starting the Olympics, you may be disappointed to find that your competitors are much slower than the practice mode counterparts. In practice mode, the athletes have maxed-out stats, so Olympics mode is basically building back up to this level.  The CPU teams don’t have differing stats, which leads to strange things like Ireland, Jamaica, and New Zealand finishing in the swimming medals, while powerhouse countries like France, Italy, and Australia are shut out. The game also allows you to compete in ‘Challenge Days’, where you compete in multiple related events, such as shooting, to get to a certain cumulative goal. Shooting, for example, will have you attempt to get 200 total points in 4 events. Completing these challenge days will give you a large points boost, but will also fatigue your team, so there is a benefit to skipping a challenge day if you don’t think you can complete it. The game also features a challenge mode, allowing you to compete with your friends on one system, system link, or through Xbox Live.

                Beijing 2008 is a solid game overall and worth taking a look at if you are an Olympics fan. The game is not perfect, but it is a good representation of the Olympic experience.