Video game players are an inherently competitive breed. Whether the objective is to frag more opponents or roll up a larger clump of souls, gamers seem to always want to show that they are better than each other. A compelling argument could be made that the pinnacle of competition are the Olympics. Game developers have tried to bring the spirit of the Olympics to gamers for almost as long as video games have existed, with recent entries bearing the interlocking rings and the IOC’s blessing. Athens 2004, the latest title to capitalize on the summer games, simulates the experience for armchair gymnasts, runners and swimmers by pitting eight human- or computer-controlled athletes against each other in events from the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad.
There are 64 countries represented in this title, from traditional powers like Australia, Japan, Russia and the United States to nations which manage a more modest medal count such as Egypt, Portugal and Trinidad and Tobago. Strangely, the Czech Republic made the cut, but Slovakia did not. Also, countries like Taiwan, Thailand and most former Soviet republics (e.g. Belarus and Kazakhstan) that usually finish in top half of the medal count were left out in favor of nine that did not manage a single medal in 2004, including Fiji, Gambia and Singapore. There’s no way to predict just which countries will bring home medals, but leaving out seven of the Olympiad’s top 40 (none of which were surprises) was a mistake.
You can participate in 25 events in Athens 2004, in eight disciplines: track, field, swimming, gymnastics, jumping, weightlifting, archery and shooting. You can choose to compete in one individually, in all the events in sequence or in a number of preset combinations (such as decathlon or all gymnastics events). In multiple-event competitions, each player is given a score based on their results, and the highest total score wins the competition. You can also create four unique competitions of up to ten events. There is also a practice mode available, where there is no opposition and you play until you choose to stop. Many events feature both men’s and women’s competition, though the only difference in most is that the times are scaled differently.
The main feature of the majority of events is rapid-fire pressing of two buttons. Of the 25 events, 13 require you to alternate between the X and O buttons in rapid succession at some point during the competition, and one (men’s rings) uses L1 and R1 instead to mix things up a bit. This leaves 44% of the events not dependent on your ability to press two buttons as quickly, although many of these are not stellar either. For example, archery requires you to account for wind and aim at the right part of a target; however, your aim does not respond well enough to the analog stick to account for all but the gentlest breezes. The 800m and 1500m races are simply management of a stamina meter plus a couple well-timed presses of L1 over 1½ to 4 minutes.
Each event in Athens 2004 has its own challenge level, but most are either incredibly easy or incredibly hard. Many alternating-button events require so much speed that only a turbo controller will net you a gold medal, though the pole vault is laughably easy until you are in world record territory. Other competitions, such as the equestrian jumping course, require you to perfectly time button presses, but do not give any indication what your timing should be. Getting a high score in the shot put or skeet shooting, on the other hand, requires no more than a little good timing on the player’s part.
This title also has a party mode, which allows you to use a dance pad to compete. There are 10 events in party mode from track, field and athletics. The controls are nearly identical to their arcade mode counterparts. It’s a bit of a surprise that up and X (up-left on most pads) are the triggers used for events with rapid-fire pressing rather than left and right; a player can get a bit more speed this way at the cost of stability. The only event of real interest is the women’s floor exercise, which uses a dance game-like interface. There are only three step charts, however, and the most difficult would rank in the lower half of the difficulty ratings, so the event is at best a preview of games like In The Groove for those who have never played one – and which of those gamers have dance pads? Because of the number of menus, you’ll spend more time waiting than playing, so party mode is not useful for a workout.
Both modes of Athens 2004 can be played with up to four players. Many events in the standard game take place simultaneously (and 3- and 4-player games require a Multitap, even if you don’t compete in those events), while all competitions in party mode use a single dance pad. Playing with the standard controller isn’t much more fun with friends around, unless you desperately need a break for your thumbs. Playing with friends in party mode is more enjoyable, although most floor mat owners will get more use out of a standard dance game.
The rewards in the game are somewhat weak. When you start a game, you input just your initials after selecting the country you will represent. A single high score for each combination of event, gender and game mode is recorded for you. The game doesn’t notify you when you get a new high score and it doesn’t track what medal (if any) you earned. After most events, you simply see a list of the eight scores and are then dumped back to the menu. Only in the competitions will you see your character receive a medal, and that is only for the overall results if you are in a multi-event competition. You don’t even get to hear your nation’s theme song if you win the gold.
The graphics in Athens 2004 are realistic and generally of high-quality. The character models are well-proportioned for the most part, although some of the females (especially the gymnasts) look a little too masculine. There is an excess of detail on the characters, down to appropriate muscle tone for the athletes. Animations are smooth and precisely mimic the motions of a real athlete engaged in competition. In a game with effectively 2,000 or so playable characters, it’s not surprising that only differences between athletes from different countries in an event are ethnicity and uniform color, but a little more variety would still have been nice. The venues are accurately represented, filled with the standard crowd that repeats after every 5-10 people, and all the props, menus and other graphics are clean and easy to look at. The official mascots, Phévos and Athiná (the latter of whom inexplicably has targets on her nipples) appear on the load screens, and even that seems like too much of them.
The sound in this title is appropriate for an Olympic game. There is only one piece of music in the game: a decent brassy mix of “Olympic Fanfare and Theme” on the title screen. During play, you will hear the crowd, any sounds inherent to the event and commentary. They are all understated and sound correct, though sometimes the game doesn’t have something to play for a fraction of a second; an Olympic venue would never be silent during a competition. The vocals can be turned off, and if you play for any length of time, you’ll want to; so few clips were recorded that the announcers tend to repeat themselves even within an event. Practice mode forgoes both commentary and crowd, which results in an eerie silence while you play.
Games based on the Olympics have changed very little since the days of Epyx Summer games and Konami’s Track & Field series, and this is not a good thing. Athens 2004’s party mode may interest some dance pad owners looking for a different kind of video game exercise, but the main game is not much fun unless you enjoy pressing X and O repeatedly until your thumbs hurt. If you want an Olympic-based video game, you’ll be better off if you wait for Beijing 2008 and see if the Wii version gets the fencing game people were talking about after the controller was first revealed.
