With the 2010 Winter Olympics just around the corner, Sega have come up with the timely release of Vancouver 2010, the winter Olympics video game.

For those of you who live in countries like Australia, where snow is scarce and the idea of a Winter Olympics baffles you, this is a release that should entice you.

I suppose, the idea of flying down a narrow ice alley in a steel luge at 60 km/ph is pretty scary, but it is also pretty inviting when played as a game.

Vancouver 2010, however, falls well short of being an excellent release and really fails to capitalize on such a marketable opportunity.

When you think of Winter Olympics, the strange sport of Curling generally comes to mind, so too does the art of figure skating.

Somehow, both these sports have been omitted from the game, making way for an overabundance of similar racing sports and jumping events.

In total there are only 14 events to choose from, with many of them overlapping and almost identical in gameplay.

Downhill Skiing and snowboarding are almost identical, while bobsleighing and luging are not too different either.

In addition, there are only 24 nations to choose form, meaning a large amount of Olympic heroes like Steven Bradbury have been left out.

In contrast to Beijing 2008, Vancouver 2010 is a vast improvement, but not by much.

The events are limited, the gameplay boring and repetitive, and had it not been for the Olympic spirit in me, I would have given up playing a lot earlier than I did.

5/10

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