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ESPN International Winter Sports 2002 (Original Xbox) by Konami



ESPN International Winter Sports 2002 (Xbox) by Konami Box Art




North Amercian Release Date: February 26, 2002.

Region(s) Released: North America, Europe, Japan

High Definition Resolutions Supported: 480p
System Link Support: No

Average Overall Score:
6.50 / 10
65.0%

Description

The 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City inspired a lot of tie-ins and licensed material, but oddly enough one of the best 2002 Olympic-style sports games is based on the ESPN license and completely lacks Olympic rings, torches, and fanfare. But even without official Olympic magic, ESPN International Winter Sports 2002 wins a gold thanks to smooth and simple play.

Screenshots

Tuesday, January 15, 2002

User Reviews

Score: 65
Overall User Average: 6.50 / 10 (65.0%)
Gameplay User Average: 6.00 / 10
Graphics User Average: 7.00 / 10
Sound User Average: 5.50 / 10
natewebb
Date reviewed: October 1, 2002.

Overall: My wife bought this game and thinks it's fun. I just don't get women.
Gameplay: push A Y A Y A Y A Y as fast as you can. Then you will win. (My calculater has better games)
Graphics: This is definitely the game's strong point. The curling is soo real you want to grab a broom.
Sound: nice sound effects but annoying sound tracks


Overall: 30 %
Gameplay: 20 %
Graphics: 60 %
Sound: 40 %
Biggoliath
Date reviewed: August 14, 2002.

Overall: Better than Halo and Grand Theft Auto 3 combined! Just kidding. It was put together by nice people!
Gameplay: Real snow effects. Winter Games on the Commador 64 eat you heart out. This game is better than that game.
Graphics: The starting screen is on of the best out there. I mean you have colors and more colors. Give them a hand.
Sound: They actually used English in this game! I swear what is the world coming to? Speech in a game? WOW!
Suggestions: Keep up the good work. When you get to the 3rd grade I can't wait to see Winter Sports 2!!!


Overall: 100 %
Gameplay: 100 %
Graphics: 100 %
Sound: 100 %
Stardog
Date reviewed: March 6, 2002.

Overall: My fingers hurt! Those of us (un)fortunate enough to remember the old button-mashing sports games of the past will remember this game. I've played this game for one day, and I cannot play anymore due to carpel tunnel syndrome in my fingers. Although this title does bring some new, and often-times exciting, events to the winter sports arena on the Xbox, the PAIN in my hand and the lack of customization lead this title "downhill" (pun intended).
Gameplay: This game brings forth 10 events in which to compete as either USA, Canada, Japan, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, France, or Austria. ALthough this is not the Olympics, more variety would be expected. At least a way to create your own athlete and select from numerous countries (how much memory does a flag take?). Regardless, you can select a man or a woman (their labels) as an athlete. As long as you don't compete in the Trial Mode (aka Practice Mode), you'll compete in 8 of 10 events spaced over 3 Days of competition to decide the new King/Queen of the Ice! Most events are the same, but a few are only gender specific (no male figure skating - darn!). After selecting your fairly detailed athlete, it's off to the competition. On the first day, you are faced with 3 events. For this example, they are Downhill, K90 Longjump, and Speed Skating. In the Downhill, you race your skier in 3rd-person perspective down a course, making sure you go through the gates. If you miss one, you're disqualified (DQ'd) and you end your event there. At this point, and any other time you DQ, after sitting through multiple screens with no exit, you might as well restart the competition. Make a flawless run, get a medal, and make a stand in the overall rankings, since that what this is all about: final rankings over all events. Next up, K90 Longjump. Fairly simple: Hold the triggers to start the run, release to jump at the end of the ramp, and pull them slightly (but continuously) to float down the mountain. This is my best event. Finally, Speed Skating. The button mashing ensues. Basically, the faster you hit the A and B buttons successively, the faster you go. Thankfully, you have to slow down around the corners or you slow down and lose all hope of getting a medal. If you can pound those buttons fast enough to win, please share what deranged contortion you put your arm into to make it any easier. Whew. Next Day. Day 2. The events are K120 Longjump, Halfpipe, and Bobsleigh. Cool, another longjump competition, you think. Wrong! It's a button masher like the Speed Skating. Hit A and B as fast as you can, pull a trigger to jump, keep hitting A and B to float downhill, pull trigger to land. If you're playing this game for the first time, no problem. But after about 4 rounds, your fingers cannot pound the buttons anymore! Poor scores! Next up, Halfpipe. Cool, snowboarding! But it's not not anything you've seen. You have to hit a button when a meter gets into a certain zone, then follow the movement comments on screen to pull off the trick. You're too busy watching the screen to enjoy the boarder. Bobsleigh is by far the best event. Hauling down the ice pipe is quite fun and relaxing, considering the other events. Final Day: Moguls and Slalom. Moguls simply involves hitting the R or L trigger at the appropriate times during the run, then moving the sticks around to perform tricks on the jumps. Interesting concept, but frustrating. Finally, the Slalom. I loathe the slalom.
Graphics: The graphics are good. The menus are lively, the characters are a bit generic but decent, and the courses and effects are nicely rendered. But I want to return to the gameplay for a minute. The other 2 events (for women only) are Curling and Figure Skating. Curling is like shuffleboard on ice, and it's actually quite fun. I enjoyed the strategy and slow pace of this event. Finally, Figure Skating. Like the snowboarding, this event has you looking away from the actual skater all of the time, thus you cannot appreciate what she's doing. You have to push the controller in the appropriate direction at the right time and then hit the buttons in the correct sequence in order to perform jumps. I really don't think this is what figure skating is really like. Although, if I was sitting on the couch watching someone else play, maybe it would be good. Regarding further issues with the gameplay, seriously, I cannot play it anymore. On the events that involve button mashing, I simply cannot hit the buttons nearly as fast as I used to. I lose every time! There should be a warning on this game that it causes muscle disorders your hand. I've only had the game a few days, but it's become a painful nightmare. I would rather watch someone else play it, frankly. In fact, that's why I give it a 3.5. The graphics are quite good, but if you're playing, you don't really have the time to appreciate them on most the events. Torture your friend and inist on watching them play instead.
Sound: The sound is Stereo only. No Dolby Prologic surround, no Digial 5.1 surround. Sure, the sound effects are realistic, but this game deserves 5.1 for sound effects. The music has a somewhat enticing disco feel to it. This makes you understand the hatred of disco after your hands start to cramp up, though. No way to rip your own soundtrack, either.
Suggestions: Improve the sound effects. Make a create-an-athlete with a lot more countries. Allow us to pick the events we want to compete in for the championship. I would have liked to play Curling for men.... No More Button Mashing! There has to be a better way.


Overall: 40 %
Gameplay: 40 %
Graphics: 70 %
Sound: 30 %

ESPN International Winter Sports 2002 News

Konami Sends Screens

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