It'll come as some comfort for those who have been let go from SEGA Studios Australia since the Brisbane studio halved in numbers over two months ago, but the game they've been working on, London 2012 – The Official Video Game of the Olympic Games, has received some very positive words from the Senior Editor at IGN Australia. He's played a preview on the PlayStation 3 and touts it as "the best Olympics Game to date".
Now, the track record for past Olympic games may be spotty at best, where many were produced to capitalise on such a lucrative license resulting in a button mashing mess of mini-games, but SEGA Studios Australia's efforts have been praised for going way above and beyond the expectations of a mere licensed title. Apart from the outsanding visuals and animation detail, where for example, muscle bulges and veins are seen in the faces of weight lifters, a lot of emphasis was put on the actual gameplay itself where the button mashing experience is replaced with a more deeper experience requiring skill and timing.
There are 49 events across 13 different sports and dynamic commentary throughout, giving a broadcast quality feel to the whole experience and a personality to the game. An online mode where players can compete and tally medals for their own country makes for a highly interesting feature for London 2012. There's some nice touches added including an open ceremony and a party event mode where games are more arcade-y and made more for fun than the purpose of being realistic, all of which shows the extra mile that SEGA Studios Australia went for this title.
(IGN Australia) While this isn't necessarily a game that's aimed at 'core' gamers – whoever they are – it's good to see an Olympics title that's been approached with a focus on gameplay and quality; one that doesn't simply rely on the license. With such a huge list of events it's inevitable that some fall flat but, from what we've played, it seems like enough get it right that this could be the perfect party game to complement the Olympics themselves.