Coming from a family of skiers and snowboarders, you can imagine how thrilled I was at the opening of the 2002 Winter Olympics.  I was even thrilled when I heard Eidos was releasing Salt Lake 2002, a game based on some of the events featured in the Winter Olympics. Then again, I’ve played games based on Olympic events before that has not lived up to the excitement of the sport.  So the question is Does Salt Lake 2002 have what it takes to bring home the Gold?  Read on and find out.

There are four playing modes (Olympic, Tournament, Classic and Freeform).  Olympic mode allows game players to compete for medals awarded to the top three finalists after competing in all six events.  Tournament mode has you competing against all sixteen countries and winners will compete in four rounds of competition. Classic mode has you trying to match a particular score on the scoreboard.  You even get three lives or chances to beat the score.  And Freeform is simply a mode where you can learn the controls by trail and error.  Freeform should be the first mode game players should start with.

The events themselves are taken from actual events sports fans will see in the Winter Olympics. They include: Men’s Alpine Skiing Downhill where you have to ski down a slope through a number of flags. Men’s Ski Jumping K120 Individual where you ski down a ramp without poles in order to make a long distance jump.  Men’s Snowboard Parallel Giant Slalom where you race down a course against an opponent. Ladies Alpine Skiing Slalom where the aim is to finish the course as fast as you could through all the gates. Men’s Two-man Bobsleigh where you man a bobsleigh. And the Women’s Freestyle Skiing Aerials where two acrobatic jumps up a ramp.

Each event proves challenging, especially the bobsleigh event that is seen in first-person mode, making it hard to steer accurately.  Other events seem to be frustratingly unfair like the snowboarding event (the computer controlled opponent hardly makes a mistake at all) or the freestyle skiing aerial event (exactly how do you land without eating snow at the end?).  There is a difficulty setting (Beginner, Novice, Intermediate and Legend) and no matter what you choose, the game is still difficult.

The graphics in this game, although wonderful in certain spots, could have definitely benefited from some fine-tuning.  From the beginning of the game in the load screen, game players might be a little turned off by the crude one-dimensional screenshot of the chalet.  Will the rest of the game look like this, they might ask?  Luckily, no, but there are objects in the game that are just plain pitiful . . . like the stage in one area or the bus in yet another.  And the character design looks great in close-ups and in the instant replay, but game players will notice that many of the characters from different countries look alike.

All is not bad in the graphics department, though.  Backgrounds have their own neat individual personality.  By that I mean the different venues and events call for platforms, separators so spectators could watch the action and distant lodges and chalets. And the realistic weather patterns and time of day give each area an even more interesting look.

With a rather poor quality in graphics, surely the sound is poor as well.  Such is not the case in this game.  In fact, the game’s soundtrack is really pretty good.  There are ten different alternative rock tunes that ooze influence from Liz Phair to Weezer.  These tunes play throughout the event and even in the replay and you can even change the songs through the Options menu when you pause the game.  Also, aside from the cool tunes, is the television-style commentary that never is degrading and is very insightful.  You can learn what you did wrong and is you listen, they’ll even give you helpful hints.

A sports title isn’t complete without the multiplayer option and since there are sixteen countries to choose from to use in the Olympic, Tournament and Freestyle modes, up to four players can compete against each another for the gold.  Using the Multitap for the PS2, you can hook up four controllers, but because five of the events are individual events, game players have to wait their turn.  Meanwhile, the Men’s Snowboard Parallel Giant Slalom is a head-to-head event seen in split screen fashion.  All the modes are fun, but Olympic and Tournament hold the true challenge and medals are awarded.

Although Salt Lake 2002 tries to be an original in the winter sports genre, the game isn’t able to fully achieve an overall genuinely thrilling appeal or provide over-the-top fun.  It does have good old-fashioned competitive action and something unique (after all, how many bobsleigh games are out there?) and that alone might be worth the rental.  

Gameplay: 7.8
As luck would have it, this game has five difficulty settings (Beginner, Novice, Intermediate, Expert and Legend), four playing modes (Olympic, Tournament, Classic and Freeform).  You can also choose from sixteen representing countries in six events.

The controls are pretty basic in whichever event you choose, although it is a challenge trying to make heads or tails of the launching buttons in the beginning or trying to make a landing that doesn’t involve slamming into the snow face first.  Luckily the Freeform mode is there so you can hone your skills before jumping into the competition.  Never attempt Olympic or Tournament mode before giving each event a try in Freeform mode first otherwise you’ll end up just madly mashing buttons frantically.

Graphics: 7.6

The graphics are not a major letdown but there is much room for improvement.  Certain elements of the game are highly detailed and wonderfully rendered while others are rather shameful (the tour bus, for example, looks like a box with windows and painted wheels).  Somewhat shameful is the athletes themselves.  The Swedish Women’s Freestyle Skiing Aerial athlete looks EXACTLY like the USA Women’s Freestyle Skiing Aerial athlete with just a different costume.  And this is too bad since characters are nicely rendered during close-ups or in the instant replays.

The backgrounds are nothing to snicker at, though.  Different venues and events have their own distinct background patterns that includes stages, distant chalets and even an area where fans can watch or snap photographs of you so there’s more to look at here than just the whiteness of the snow.  Also, there are realistic weather patterns such as blinding snow and the venue looks different at night as it does during the day.

Sound: 8.9
The music is pumping with adrenalin-rushing alternative-rock of the Weezer kind to pump you up during gameplay and during the Replay of your performance.  The music does become repetitive in certain events but since the songs are pretty good you might just overlook that.

Interestingly enough is the running commentary done in televised sports events fashion complete with funny observations of your performance and pointing out your strongpoint or weakness.  You can get great tips from the commentators during the Replay of an event and they do tell you where exactly you failed and what you can do to fix it.

Difficulty: 7.7
Thank you, Eidos, for including a very thorough instruction manual and an in-game overview of the individual controls needed for the events.  Still, even with that, you are faced with minor problems that become frustrating.  For example the launch button changes with each event.  Since it does change, you might find yourself launching too early or too late--all of which counts during Tournament Mode or Olympic Mode.

The degree of difficulty between each event naturally varies.  One event might prove to be very simple while the other seems so damn hard that you’ll curse the event.  Many times, certain events like the Men’s Snowboard Parallel Giant Slalom are so unfair that it becomes annoyingly irritating.  Don’t real-life opponents make mistakes too?  Why can’t opponents make mistakes here as well?

Concept: 8.0
With the outpouring of winter sports titles and the success of just a few of them, a game set during the 2002 Winter Olympics seems rational enough, right?  The idea is a good one since there are various types of events featured in the Olympics yet only six of them are featured here (although I hardly think any gamer would be interested in the figure skating events).

Of the six events, four of them involve skiing, one involves snowboards, and the last one, the Men’s Two-man Bobsleigh event, speaks for itself.  This event keeps the game from becoming yet another ski and snowboard title and even then the skiing and snowboarding are different from, say, “Shaun Palmer Snowboarder” or “Jonny Moseley Mad Trix.”

Multiplayer: 8.7
Probably the best feature this game has to offer is the multiplayer option that can support up to four players using the PS2 Multitap.  Not only can you choose from the various countries representing, you can choose to compete in all six events in three of the four playing modes. 

Each event is done in wait-your-turn fashion unless you’re playing the snowboarding event where two play at the same time. Still, this game is really more fun playing against a friend or a group of friends.

Overall: 7.6
Salt Lake 2002 hardly wins the gold (or the silver for that matter) but the effort is worthy of your time.  I see this one as a worthwhile rental to be played at parties or get-togethers with sports minded friends.