MINX
15-08-2008, 09:32 AM
While Great Britain is battling it out for medals in China, there's another battle going on much closer to home.
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Beijing 2008 versus Summer Athletics! Which won't involve the sweat, the drama or the tears that the Olympics will but nevertheless, one will emerge triumphant in this battle of wills.
But who will it be? Beijing 2008 with its official license or Summer Athletics with its unique control system? Beijing 2008 with its wide variety of events or Summer Athletics with its cartwheeling monkey? The battle is on...
Presentation
Beijing 2008 has the official license, so that's already a huge advantage it has over Summer Athletics. It means Beijing has extras such as the official World and Olympic records to break, which is a nice incentive to improve and push yourself.
Beijing also has slicker graphics and better sound. It's not exactly causing the 360 to sweat buckets but compared to Summer Athletics, it's miles ahead.
The main problem with Summer Athletics is most of the action is restricted to one generic, dull looking stadium, so it feels more like a school sports day than an Olympic event. Even though it has a cartwheeling monkey that's trackside for every event, it's not good enough. One of the few times where a cartwheeling monkey isn't good enough, come to think of it.
WINNER: Beijing Olympics
Events
Beijing 2008 has 38 events while Summer Athletics has 26. The clear advantage goes to Beijing 2008, which has tons of events crammed in.
Yet it's the variety of events that makes Beijing 2008 the real winner. It sports some duds in its line-up, such as judo and kayaking, but the sheer diversity of events that includes table-tennis, weightlifting, skeet shooting and floor gymnastics amongst the usual running and jumping makes it the more impressive title.
Summer Athletics doesn't stretch its wings too far beyond the usual track 'n field fare, with no real surprises in store. Up against the pick 'n mix selection of Beijing Olympics, it feels a little too slender.
WINNER: Beijing Olympics
Controls
Both feature alternative control methods to the usual button bashing, which is stick waggling. Ahem.
Instead of hammering on the buttons, you can waggle the stick back and forth for speed. The key difference here is that Summer Athletics favours a gentle build-up approach in most of its events, to mirror an athlete building himself up. For example, for the long jump, push yourself too hard in the run-up and you'll have less strength for the actual jump.
Both games feature some real duds in the control system. Beijing's kayaking and judo events are beyond weird, while Summer Athletics' swimming is a mess of icons and colours. Still, Summer Athletics has the advantage overall.
WINNER: Summer Athletics
Multiplayer
A battle that's lost before it even starts - Beijing Olympics has an online mode while Summer Athletics does not. It seems mad that a game which revolves around multiplayer can somehow leave out an online multiplayer mode but hey, we're not the making the decisions, only reporting back on them.
The variety of events also makes Beijing Olympics more fun offline, as they cater across the board for different skill levels (button bashing, timing, strategy, and so on). Summer Athletics just falls short in this department.
WINNER: Beijing Olympics
WINNER!
Beijing 2008 emerges as the winner, mostly on the strength of its multiplayer and sheer diversity of events. If you have to pick one game this summer to try and emulate your nation's success (or lack of!) on the field, make it this one.
Source (http://www.oxm.co.uk/article.php?id=5735)
Advertisement:
Beijing 2008 versus Summer Athletics! Which won't involve the sweat, the drama or the tears that the Olympics will but nevertheless, one will emerge triumphant in this battle of wills.
But who will it be? Beijing 2008 with its official license or Summer Athletics with its unique control system? Beijing 2008 with its wide variety of events or Summer Athletics with its cartwheeling monkey? The battle is on...
Presentation
Beijing 2008 has the official license, so that's already a huge advantage it has over Summer Athletics. It means Beijing has extras such as the official World and Olympic records to break, which is a nice incentive to improve and push yourself.
Beijing also has slicker graphics and better sound. It's not exactly causing the 360 to sweat buckets but compared to Summer Athletics, it's miles ahead.
The main problem with Summer Athletics is most of the action is restricted to one generic, dull looking stadium, so it feels more like a school sports day than an Olympic event. Even though it has a cartwheeling monkey that's trackside for every event, it's not good enough. One of the few times where a cartwheeling monkey isn't good enough, come to think of it.
WINNER: Beijing Olympics
Events
Beijing 2008 has 38 events while Summer Athletics has 26. The clear advantage goes to Beijing 2008, which has tons of events crammed in.
Yet it's the variety of events that makes Beijing 2008 the real winner. It sports some duds in its line-up, such as judo and kayaking, but the sheer diversity of events that includes table-tennis, weightlifting, skeet shooting and floor gymnastics amongst the usual running and jumping makes it the more impressive title.
Summer Athletics doesn't stretch its wings too far beyond the usual track 'n field fare, with no real surprises in store. Up against the pick 'n mix selection of Beijing Olympics, it feels a little too slender.
WINNER: Beijing Olympics
Controls
Both feature alternative control methods to the usual button bashing, which is stick waggling. Ahem.
Instead of hammering on the buttons, you can waggle the stick back and forth for speed. The key difference here is that Summer Athletics favours a gentle build-up approach in most of its events, to mirror an athlete building himself up. For example, for the long jump, push yourself too hard in the run-up and you'll have less strength for the actual jump.
Both games feature some real duds in the control system. Beijing's kayaking and judo events are beyond weird, while Summer Athletics' swimming is a mess of icons and colours. Still, Summer Athletics has the advantage overall.
WINNER: Summer Athletics
Multiplayer
A battle that's lost before it even starts - Beijing Olympics has an online mode while Summer Athletics does not. It seems mad that a game which revolves around multiplayer can somehow leave out an online multiplayer mode but hey, we're not the making the decisions, only reporting back on them.
The variety of events also makes Beijing Olympics more fun offline, as they cater across the board for different skill levels (button bashing, timing, strategy, and so on). Summer Athletics just falls short in this department.
WINNER: Beijing Olympics
WINNER!
Beijing 2008 emerges as the winner, mostly on the strength of its multiplayer and sheer diversity of events. If you have to pick one game this summer to try and emulate your nation's success (or lack of!) on the field, make it this one.
Source (http://www.oxm.co.uk/article.php?id=5735)