The Olympic Winter Games conjures up thoughts of national pride – our country’s team winning the gold and showing the rest of the world exactly what our athletes are made of. That’s what SEGA and EuroCom have tried to do in Vancouver 2010, their video game representation of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

PRESENTATION
Vancouver 2010 features a pleasant, vibrantly-colored user-interface, mirroring the colors seen in the logo for the upcoming Winter Games. Navigating the menus is simple and effective, never leaving you at a loss for where a particular feature or mode can be located. Unfortunately, beyond this pretty menu system, the game does not feature any of the pageantry or spectacle that goes hand-in-hand with the games. There is no career mode, no lighting of the flame, no real visceral connection to the games themselves or what it would be like to participate in them. A ‘career mode’ would have benefited this game greatly, perhaps showing the story of an Olympian from flame lighting to closing ceremony. Without this, the various events, while fun, feel isolated from one another.

This brings us to the selection of events included in Vancouver 2010. While the box claims there are 14 different events in the game, many of them are slight variations on one another and feel mostly the same. Missing entirely are some VERY important events such as curling, the biathlon, and figure skating. Furthermore, in some of these events, you are only given the option to only play in either the male or female categories. Why you could not choose the gender dynamically is beyond me – there really isn’t a whole heck of a lot of difference between the two variations.

This may sound like a lot of negative so far, however when you get down into the events that are included, you will have a good time playing them. They are a lot of fun and, when placed into the first-person perspective, you will really get a sense of speed and excitement while going through them. I especially liked the representation of the bobsleigh.

Also a definite positive are the game’s online and ‘challenge’ modes. While playing online is fun to compare your scores in the various events with your friends, the various challenges offered by the challenge mode do a lot to keep things exciting and moving forward.

GAMEPLAY
Something that Vancouver 2010 has going for it in spades is being easy to pickup. Each of the games you will take part in don’t require very complicated control schemes to compete. Usually, you only need to hit a couple of buttons in a specific sequence or steer slightly with the left and right triggers. Thankfully, like the classic game of ‘Reversi’, while it is simple to pickup the game can be very challenging as there are a ton of nuances in each event.

GRAPHICS AND SOUND
Visually-speaking, Vancouver 2010 is a crisp and rich representation of the Winter Games. Beautiful, snow covered landscapes and vivid signage and costuming will grace your screen. Unfortunately, the crowds seem a bit wooden and are not up to spec with the rest of the graphic elements in the game. Thankfully, your character is very well-detailed and will express his or her satisfaction with your run through an event with the appropriate body language.

The game’s first-person perspective is incredible and will really give you a sense of exhilaration and an appreciation for what some of these athletes experience during their trials. Between going what seems to be mach 2 in the downhill slopes to flying through the air in the ski jump, the game has a lot going for it in the graphics department.

In-game music is a great, upbeat mix of songs that will keep you fueled and playing. Some of them, from artists like Fallout Boy and Fairweather, will make you want to take them along in your iPod to listen too while driving… Be careful with that one, I was once known to hit triple-digits while blasting Kenny Loggins’ Danger Zone, but I digress.

While taking part in the events, the sound of rushing wind, skis on snow and ice, and a whole lot more will grace your ears. Going back to the pageantry and spectacle portion of this review for a second, it would have been nice to feel more involved with the Olympics rather than just randomly doing an event by including a commentator as a person would hear watching the events on television. Aside from this, the game audio is very well-done.

OVERALL
SEGA and EuroCom have attempted to capture the 2010 Olympic Winter Games with Vancouver 2010. While they did not succeed in this goal outright, they did succeed in creating a nice smattering of isolated events that you will enjoy taking through the online and challenge modes. The game looks really nice, is easy to pickup, and the events are fun to play through.