The fact sheet certainly sounds good. Eight winter sports spread out over fifteen events. This game lets you play through the most popular winter Olympics sports. The sports on offer include Alpine Skiing, Ski Jumping, Speed Skating, Cross-Country Skiing, Bobsleigh, Luge, Nordic Combined and a Biathlon. It’s possible to play through all of these sports in a nine event competition or to play them individually. Some of the sports have variations though, for example the alpine skiing lets you race downhill, or take part in a slalom and this is how the game calculates that it has fifteen events. If you so desire you can actually play through all fifteen events.
Thrilling hey?
So how do the eight sports compare? Generally they are a mix of bad and not so bad. For the most part the events actually don't become button mashing affairs, but all eight sports feel heavily dumbed down. The alpine skiing requires you to line up a bar to take off and then navigate your way down the course whilst moving in between the flags. If you get too close to the side of the course then you will actually fall of your skis and be disqualified from the event. It’s actually quite humourous though because your world champion skier doesn’t seem to have any control once they crash and it’s amazing how far down the course they slide; it's equivalent to a ragdoll.
Most of the other games are relatively simple though, in ski jumping all you have to do is ensure your character is balanced and speed skating just requires you to press either X or circle at the correct time. If you don't press the button at the correct time then your opponant will breeze ahead of you. The speed skating could have been a highlight, but it is so dumbed down and repetitive that you're likely to want to play any other sport. It's also worth mentioning that there is basically no difference between the luge and bobsled events except that luge only has one person and bobsled has four.
A multiplayer mode has been included, and whilst we thought that it was a prerequisite for any Olympics game to have split screen multiplayer, this game doesn't. Players take turns in setting a time to beat and your opponant has to try and beat the time. We really don't know why split screen multiplayer wasn't included, the multiplayer could have been the saving grace for the game, but unfortunately the multiplayer is an experience best not tried.
Look at the detail
The game has a few problems that drag the quality and the enjoyment of the game down as well. All of the countries in the game are referred to as “computer 1” or “computer 2” even though they have a country associated to them. It would have been far less confusing to just call the computer by the name of their country and we really don’t know why this wasn’t done. It also didn’t appear to matter which country you chose either. It would be logical to assume that certain countries would be a little more skilled than others, but the only difference it makes by choosing another country is the look and style of the uniform.
It's also possible to be winning some events but lose them even if you over-take somebody else, simply because the game is based on getting the best time. It's possible to actually over take your opponant, complete the race and then find out that you've lost based on time and nothing is more frustrating than this. The game is also lacking in presentation, and there are no national anthems played at the end to celebrate your win.
Graphically the game looks good when you're just sitting there ready to take off and begin your event. However, once things get going the game kind of loses it's way. The animation in the game is poor and if you crash into another skiier during the skiing event then you will just bump off them. Olympics games have never been known for how good they look, and Torino isn't going to change this.
”It’s probably himself who is most disappointed”. Yet this is actually one of the better lines used during the game. The commentary in the game is provided by two Americans who randomly insert some trivia about the sport if you're lucky. After this though the commentary is generic, and the commentators just say things like "Oh No" and "Great Time". The crowd is surprisingly quiet as well, and it would have been good if they weren't on a ten second sound loop.
More Winter Olympics excitement.
The game itself isn't likely to last very long either unfortunately. The fifteen events can be played through extremely quickly and after this there really isn't much of a reason to come back to the game. The multiplayer could have extended the lifespan of the game, but personally we don't find much enjoyment in setting our opponents with time limits to "win" against us. It's really disappointed that more wasn't done to at least draw you back to the game.
Torino 2006 is just a disappointing game. We tried to like it and approached the game with an Olympic spirit that has now been shattered. Even if you're normally a fan of olympics titles then Torino 2006 isn't highly recommended, simply because the game feels like it has been rushed to be out in time for the Winter Olympics. The game had the potential to be at the very least a multiplayer favourite, but is more likely to lose you friends.
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