Olympic Games City on Facebook: What do they give runners-up?
When you think of the Olympics, what comes to mind first is undoubtedly one of the major feats of athleticism that you tune in to witness on TV. (Or, in this case, on your laptop or smartphone.) If somehow marvelous Olympic Village fills your thoughts first, then you're more likely than not an urban planning nerd or an engineering nerd. Congratulations, Olympic Games City is for you!
If you don't give a hoot about the Olympic Village, then you're probably not going to enjoy Neowiz Internet and developer LIFO Interactive's Olympic Games City for Facebook, the official social game for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London. This city-builder fails to impress for three reasons: For one, it seems as if LIFO was rushed into creating a Facebook game to release on time with the Olympic Games, and it shows in the presentation. Secondly, it's generally unoriginal, lacking much differentiation from the stable to city-builders on Facebook. Finally, Olympic Games City simply doesn't capture what we love about this event.
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Nearly everything about this game looks (and feels) rushed. From the artwork that lacks polish to the fonts used in the interface and the game's mechanics (such as placing a single block of road to see cars drive and disappear on it), the presentation in Olympic Games City fails to impress. The reason we guess this is due to a lack of time is because LIFO Interactive's existing games, like Train City and Pirate Commander, are a much better measure of the studio's talent.
Considering the studio has created genuine, polished social games in the past, the lack of originality in Olympic Games City is a bit of a shock, to say the least. Aside the inclusion of a feature that lets players host athletic events for their friends to participate in (which amounts to clicking on News Feed posts), there's little to nothing differentiating this from, say, CityVille save for art style. That ultimately makes for an experience that feels and looks stale.
Above all else, Olympic Games City suffers from one major flaw: That it fails to capture what the majority, if not all, of Olympics fans care about. While every sporting event is represented in LIFO Interactive's city-builder, none of them are available for play. Shouldn't that be the point of a game based around the Olympics--the most exciting part?
Perhaps LIFO Interactive should be commended for attempting to release an Olympics game that wasn't centered on the same exact aspect of the event that every other licensed game focuses on. But even a tiny but of action would have made Olympic Games City more interesting. Unfortunately, it's tough to find many, if any, positives in this release. If only there medals for effort in the Olympics.
Click here to play Olympic Games City on Facebook Now >
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