The Winter Olympics start today. In the UK the event has interest levels that only just pip the National Tiddlywinks Championship - although curling, bizarrely, did catch the imagination last time round - but you can guarantee there will be a game released around the event. Torino 2006 is no different, with the official game available now. It's utter rubbish as you may expect if you've played recent Olympics videogames.
Torino's main failing is to try and dumb down what should be enjoyable multiplayer competition. Sure, Track and Field and the like required stamina but skill was crucial for getting the high scores. Anyone expecting a similar challenge from Torino will be disappointed.
But it didn't use to be like this - Winter Games anyone? That 80s classic - the bobsleigh being a particular love/hate event - showed the potential which Torino 2006: The Official blah blah etc utterly fails to live up to. I was going to make a 80s-Olympic-games-are-so-much-better-than-today's argument until I remembered Daley Thompson's Decathlon. But the point is still basically valid - Winter Games over Torino 2006 any day.
