Nagano Winter Olympics '98

"Not that great"

When I picked up this game I thought "Hmm, a game that lets you play the Winter Olympics. Sounds like fun!" And it was only like 7 or 8 dollars. I thought since it was on the n64 it should have pretty descent graphics.

I soon found out why this game was dirt cheap. The graphics were sub-par, the gameplay was difficult at best, and overall it was a very low quality game.

GAMEPLAY: 2/10
There are activities such as snowboarding, skating, skiing, and curling. Most of them involve the use of just a couple of buttons(for example, in skating you just have to hit the L and R buttons over and over and over), so the gameplay is just not all that immersive. The snowboarding halfpipe game is very very difficult because you have to pull off tricks by pressing a bunch of buttons in a row, and there is no freedom for you to just do any trick at any time because you have to pre-select the tricks! Another impossible game is the freestyle skiing(do tricks while skiing). I still cannot even figure out how to actually pull of a trick. The bob sled is okay, but it is nearly impossible to get any faster than the opponents.

GRAPHICS: 4/10
Like I said before, the graphics just don't do the job. The people look like weird stick figures, it is kind of choppy when you are moving sometimes. They look a lot like 32 bit graphics when they should have used the full capabilities of the n64 and made it look like actual 64 bit graphics.

SOUND: 5/10
There really is not any special about the sound. There is an announcer guy who gets really annoying because every time you actually get higher than last place he says "You put in place this time!" There is, of course, the usual roar of the crowd and everything, but it is pretty generic.

REPLAY VALUE: 2/10
Virtually none. You may play this game a few times and then go for about a year or two without touching it. The gameplay is so frustrating that you may get mad and throw it across the room.

If you want a good Winter Olympics game, I am afraid you must look elsewhere. I don't even think there are any other Winter Olympics games. You would be much better off and much more entertained if you bought a Madden game, Mario Tennis, 1080 Snowboarding or something or other. Stay away from this unless you just want it as a collector's item or something.

SUMMARY:
Gameplay 2/10 Bad
Graphics 4/10 Poor
Sound 5/10 Fair
Replay Value 2/10 Bad

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 09/24/07

Game Release: Nagano Winter Olympics '98 (US, 01/10/98)