Anyone looking for Israeli sportsmen in the game should be forewarned: There are none, and our flag is one of the many left out.
By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICHbeijing video game 88(photo credit: Courtesy)
The Chinese proved themselves so brilliant, efficient and creative (if you don't mind the totalitarianism) in putting on the 2008 Olympics that one would expect these same qualities in a much smaller project - the official video version. But they are absent in this DVD-ROM, which is pathetically disappointing, frustrating and no fun at all.
Anyone looking for Israeli sportsmen in the game should be forewarned: There are none, and our flag is one of the many left out. There are only 32 countries participating in the video version, out of the more than 200 which took part in the actual Beijing Games. The number of sports is also meager, with only athletics/track; athletics/field; swimming/diving; gymnastics/artistic; shooting/shotgun; shooting/pistol; archery; judo; canoe/kayak slalom; and table tennis.
But even with this small selection, the simulation game could have been good if gamers were required to do more to make their sportsman/woman "faster, stronger, higher" by tediously mashing keys on a keyboard or game pad. To get a girl to perform a floor exercise, one must hit a key at exactly the split second that a circle marked A or B appears on the floor, and earning a medal on a bike, the track or in the pool can (sometimes) be accomplished with the mashing technique. Perhaps the developers of this game were a sadistic bunch who wanted customers to develop carpal tunnel syndrome. Sometimes using a keyboard is less painful and frustrating than a gamepad (as in racing) and vice versa, but not by much.
The sportsmen's names don't appear on the screen - only the flags they represent. When you download a particular competition, you are supposed to be amused by one-sentence facts - such as "Married women were not allowed to watch the ancient Olympic Games" - that constantly repeat themselves. However, the graphics engine is pretty good, and the water in the pool and canoe course looks quite inviting.
If your eye-hand coordination is below that of an Israel Air Force fighter pilot, you will find yourself constantly firing off your sportsman before the starter and then being disqualified; if you start a split second later, you will be hopelessly behind. Search YouTube for video clips of the real games or take a basketball outside instead.
Beijing 2008, a DVD-ROM in English by Sega, distributed with am 18-page English-language user's manual by Hed Artzi Multimedia, requires Windows XP and up and a 2.4 ghz PC or better, for ages three through adult, NIS 169.
Rating: **
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