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Button-mashers rejoice! While quite numerous in the 16-bit days, track and field games have been largely absent this generation. Apparently, someone at Sony’s 989 Studios realized this, grabbed the Olympic license, and tapped the development power of Eurocom to deliver a surprisingly solid attempt in this forgotten genre.
At first inspection, it seems that Athens features a huge number of different gameplay modes to play in. A closer look reveals that many of these are quite similar but there are still enough to satisfy you for a while. There are a number of track and field race events (different race lengths) which have you mashing the X and O buttons to achieve first place. Similarly, the track and field area includes numerous jumping competitions, and throwing some sort of object (discus, javelin and shot put).
There’s a reason this game isn’t just titled “Track and Field,” though. Athens 2004 also features numerous aquatic and gymnastics-related events. Both of these keep the same basic routine of the previous events, i.e. press buttons quickly. The swimming competitions introduce the element of controlling your breathing but largely remain about mashing those buttons, while the gymnastics have you doing a DDR-like appropriate-button pressing. Additionally, you’ll also do some weightlifting, archery shooting, skeet (flying disc) shooting, and horse riding. Many of these events can be played in a DDR dance mat, giving your body a true workout.
The variety of the different events keep the game interesting for the most part, specially when you have to complete different events in succession. This keeps you on your toes since the controls may drastically change with the next event.
As fun as playing against the AI is, nothing beats embarrassing your friends. Athens 2004 allows you to play against up to three other players via multitap. In multiplayer, you can play through any of the game’s many events or set up your own multi-event competitions.
In the visuals department, Athens 2004 doesn’t do anything wrong but it isn’t particularly pretty, either. Everything in the game is well represented, meaning that the numerous stadiums look authentic and are littered with a realistic crowd. The character models are decent and animate fluidly for the most part.
The game comes to life via an enthusiastic crowd, although the announcer could have taken some of their energy. Nonetheless, his comments are usually accurate, providing insight to the competition.
Athens 2004 is a worthy purchase for gamers nostalgic about a simpler time in videogames, where pressing buttons repeatedly would allow you to move onto the next level. Casual gamers may want to pick it up also since it is a rather fun party game and even non-gamers can learn the simple controls in a try or two.
As a side note, this is the second time I wrote this review since Microsoft Word decided to have a “runtime error” as I began the last paragraph. Luckily, I saved at least fifty times while I wrote this one and plan on doing so in every future review. -- Jose Liz, PGNx Media
---- Jul 21, 2004
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