Customer Reviews

ESPN International Winter Sports 2002

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

We played this game recently and found it to be a letdown with people screaming,... First of all, it's a very simple game and offers very little. You have about 8 events in which to compete and a practice mode. What disappointed me about many of the events is the limited control you have over your athlete. For half-pipe snowboarding, you could only select between a very limited number of moves and then needed to rapidly hit a key combination in order to execute it successfully (and you lost points if you did not select the designated move that was flashing on the screen). I would rather have full control of the moves like in Amp for instance. Figureskating was even worse; you had no control whatsoever of the movements, instead having to quickly hit key combos that determine the performance and score of your skater, not which moves are executed. The CPU opponents were very difficult to beat. Most of the time, I would get 8th place even after hours of practicing (I'm no novice by the way, I do this for a living). There is no difficulty level either! The controls are very confusing and too steep of a learning curve. Each event had differing controls and for most of the events, the control scheme seemed more complex than needed. I personally would find it much easier to have the controls streamlined for each event, though some players might like the control variety. Keep in mind that in order to succeed in a few of the events, you had to rapidly hit A & B. Fans of the ancient arcade game, track & field might love this, but for me (maybe i'm too old), this only leads to sore fingers & quickly worn out controls. I would have liked more character background and a career mode with attributes that you can improve. Instead, you select generic characters with no background. The in-game music is pretty limited and a letdown as well. One positive thing about the game is that the graphics are really impressive and smooth with quick loading times. Overall, you might like this game if you want a simple, no frills sports title. For me, I found it quickly boring, frustrating and had little replay value.

While the reviewer from Redmont is correct on every count (poor training levels, steep learning curve, inconsistent graphic quality between games and lack of total control), I feel the game should get two points just for its inclusion of sports not normally handled by console games -- and while this category would include figure skating (go see how many console and computer games you can find with this one -- far less than snowboarding!) most importantly it includes curling... an extremely addictive sport once you get into it either as a participant or spectator (sort of like golf,which is also from Scotland: people who aren't addicts think it is slow and boring but once you pick up the nuances you can't get enough of it).

While the reviewer from Redmont is correct on every count (poor training levels, steep learning curve, inconsistent graphic quality between games and lack of total control), I feel the game should get two points just for its inclusion of sports not normally handled by console games -- and while this category would include figure skating (go see how many console and computer games you can find with this one -- far less than snowboarding!) most importantly it includes curling... an extremely addictive sport once you get into it either as a participant or spectator (sort of like golf,which is also from Scotland: people who aren't addicts think it is slow and boring but once you pick up the nuances you can't get enough of it).