This was released in Japan a year prior to the original date for the Olympics before it was delayed by the Chinese Virus. The rest of the world got it in 2021 before the event eventually kicked off. Knowing that, perhaps there was much more time to improve some of these events... It's an ambitious title. Offering sports like football, baseball and basketball in particular, when they are going to be compared to FIFA/PES, NBA 2K and other AAA sporting titles, they are never going to be looked upon very favourably.
EVENTS:
Athletics: 100 m / 110 m hurdles / 4 × 100 m relay / Long jump / Hammer throw. All of these are okay and what you'd expect to be included in an Olympics game - button mashing, with some timing mechanics. There are also advanced starting moves that are difficult to pull off. The relay offers something new that hasn't been in a lot of Olympic titles.
Aquatics: 100 m freestyle swimming / 200 m Individual Medley swimming. These are fine as well, with the medley providing a different control scheme per stroke which offers some variety.
Team Sports: Baseball is okay as it's probably the most challenging to time the hits correctly. You don't seem to be as involved in the fielding as you should though. Football is a bit of fun but has a lot of issues and is one of the worst things here. The changing player feature doesn't work very well. The passing is broken. The goalkeepers fumble everything. A number of times I was about to shoot only for my AI teammate to move in front of me and block my shot. I would rather play ISS PRO '98. I know the point of these mini-games is to keep everything simple, but they should have been able to create something more playable. Basketball and Rugby Sevens are a little better but still have issues with movement and controls. Beach volleyball is the final one. It's what you would expect. Get in the correct spot to dig and set.
Tennis is simple. It plays a lot like Mario's/Everybody's/Hot Shots Tennis. As tennis is more simplistic than football, basketball, etc, this is more playable and plays okay. The player movements are bit restrictive though. Table tennis is similar. Doubles or singles can be played for these two sports.
Boxing: Block with the shoulder buttons, punch with the analog sticks... Plays fine. The way the players fall when they are knocked out is brutal.
BMX racing: Tap A to peddle and jump at the right time before the jumps/rails. I had one game of this on medium difficulty and won by a country mile.
Judo: This is one of the more complex ones. It works okay but I didn't enjoy it.
Sport Climbing. Press the right directional button at the right time to climb up the wall. Very simple.
Events aside, the graphics are decent, offering a cartoony feel. There is customisation available for your athlete. The sounds and presentation all feels good. The tutorial for each sport is easy to access and follow. Loading times aren't an issue although there are one or two animations before events that I wouldn't mind being skippable. Finally, given that I played this as a fairly new release, when the Olympics were on, and on a free weekend of play on windows, it's disappointing that I struggled to find online games most of the time.
Gameplay 3/5
Graphics 3.5/5
Sound 4/5
Difficulty 4.5/5
Originality 3.5/5
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