Those of you who know me will understand why I’m excited for this game, Beijing 2008, as I am a huge track and field fan, athlete, and coach. I have played most of the track games that have been released over the years for many different consoles, from Konami’s early versions for the NES to Athens 2004, but although they all look different, they all share the same mechanics: tap two buttons as fast as you can while tapping this other button to perform a skill, such as a jump or hurdle. Events like archery or sheet shooting are usually added in to change up the pace and test your accuracy, but I only play these to give my fingers a break. I know for the average person these games would only be fun for about an hour, but when I felt like getting on the trackand the weather was poor outside, I would pop in Track and Field for the NES, listen to Chariots of Fire on the title screen, and get ready for an intense finger workout!

I’ve always found there to be a few flaws in track games that could be fixed quite easily, but for some reason, no one has stepped up and done it yet. The first of these flaws is the fact that you are able to break world records effortlessly with very little time put into the game. A world record is nearly the peak of human performance! I should not be able to demolish the hardest computer, who usually preform like actual human beings and not some kind of secret Soviet Union super-athlete, while triple jumping in excess of 20 meters (possible on the original Track and Field even though the world record is 18.29m). But I guess that is what you get with a simplistic control scheme. I mean, you can only tap two buttons so fast. At least in recent years the games have scaled down the perfect run/jump to a smaller margin over the world record. My second complaint about these games are the animations.

Starting with Athens 2004 and now Beijing 2008, the graphics are quite decent on these new games, but for some reason the athletes still look weak and stiff; this does not portray the beauty, technique, or power involved in any of these athletic competitions. I was excited when I heard that Sega was working with the heptathlon and decathlon Commonwealth Games champions, but sadly, the animations don’t look to be much of an improvement over those of Athens 2004. In fact, Beijing 2008 looks like Athens 2004 was just repackaged in a new fancy box with a few world champions on the front and a small graphics upgrade; however, from IGN’s preview of the game, it appears that finally some more complex joy stick twiddling and button pressing/releasing has been used to make the game more challenging and interactive. The real reason I will buy this game though is for its online support. I want to see if I have the best button mashing skills in the world!

Now for a little history, to learn how track games have evolved - or lack of - into Beijing 2008:

Over the years there have been two exceptions to the basic rule I mentioned above. These games are last winter’s Sonic & Mario at the Olympic Games, and International Track and Field for the GBC (apparantly the rarest of the Sydney 2000 games as I can’t find any screen shots from the game). Sonic and Mario was revolutionary because it was the first game to bring the two icons of gaming together, but sadly it just replaced the old button tapping for Wii mote waggling. I enjoyed it for about a week, and instead of having sore fingers, I had sore arms - especially from that 4×100 swimming relay! On the other hand, International Track and Field was quite a good game! It oddly has Maurice Greene on the front cover, even though the game is a decathlon game. I will forgive this small slip-up for the fact that Daley Thompson appears in the game! Anyways, the game has the basic practice and competition modes, but where it shines is in its story mode, unique from any other track game that I have played. You are a student athlete at a university and throughout the season you have to schedule your training for either speed, jumping technique, throwing technique, stamina, or weightlifting for power; however, if you train to much without resting or hitting the town on a Sunday, you can suffer varying injuries, resulting in a possible hospital trip, or even have a nervous breakdown! It is very addictive to train as hard as you can, but not slip over the edge and get injured. During the year you can meet new people and learn special skills for your events - you can only hold three skills and these skills make those three events more interactive, and also make your character a lot better at these events - and even get one of two possible girlfriends - or play it cool with both! So as your year goes along, you compete at the all-comers meet where you are introduced to your rival, Thorpe, a total douche bag, who usually smashes you at this meet. You get your revenge though, if you trained well, at the state championships later in the season. If you win there, it’s onto the big stage at the world championships!

I thought now, eight years after ITF for the GBC, that there would be an improvement on this fantastic storyline idea for a console track game, so I’m hoping that Beijing 2008 offers something new to the world of track and field games, and not just the same old and worn out junk again. If not Beijing 2008, how about New International Track and Field, scheduled to come out later this year for the DS? I can see a DS track game either being quite fun and addictive or horribly gimmicky and disappointing.