Smoot Summer Games Review

Smoots Summer Games – another title with small bodied, yet large headed people by Kaneda games. Run, jump and swim your way to victory in this Olympic sport based game. But, will this game gain gold or will it miss out on a medal completely? Well, lets just say I wont be giving it a medal.

Historically, when it comes to sports games based on the Olympics, I’d always go to the classic International Track and Field on the PS1. This became my love, where my good friend and I would mash the X and O button for hours in competition, aiming to beat each other and set a new world record. But, now we’re further in time (and all that brings in terms of visuals, inputs etc), and I feel unless you have four friends in close proximity to your house this game will fail to entertain you for a long time.

Smoots really only has two interesting features and one simple feature which – practice mode. This mode will be where you’ll want to head to practice all the different sports that are available. It’ll show you the controls in what ever mode you choose, but if you wish to try and nail the buttons at the correct time then practice is the best place for you.

The next mode is Special Challenges, and features three different choices: bronze, silver and gold medals. Each choice offers a larger amount of challenges, and to win these you will need to complete every sport they put in front of you, as well as beat the set score. This sounds simple, but if you fail any of the sports you lose and will need to start over again.

The third and final mode is called Championship. This is the local multiplayer mode. Here, you will choose which championship you wish to play; starting with the pentathlon which has five events, then the heptathlon which has seven, and finally the decathlon which has ten events in it. This is four player, and you will able to race against your friends in every event.

Overall there are 30 characters to choose from, starting with a Mr T-a-like, right down to a zombie. Once you’ve made your choice, you’ll then need to pick your sport from the 17 on offer. From the straight forward 100m sprint through the swimming butterfly event, Smoots has all the main sports you would expect. Handily, the controls for the game aren’t difficult, making it easy to just jump in and have fun without too much practice. For running events, its a simple case of mashing the A button as fast as you can

This does change however when you do things like shot put where you will need to mash the A and B button simultaneously, then press either the LB or RB bumper to operate the angle in which you will throw an item. Of course, hitting the optimal angle of 45 degrees is tough, but with practice (and a little luck) you will be fine.

The graphics are nothing to shout about: the game is colourful – I will give it that – but the general feel looks wise is quite bland. All the people in the stands are just bouncing eggs and there’s a general lack of atmosphere. The audio doesn’t help, with the only words you’ll hear being SET and FOUL. No other voice work, and the music is really repetitive and dull.

Conclusion

When all is said and done, Smoots Summer Games is fun, for a brief period. But, with no real atmosphere, and no online play, it’s not really going to be keeping you coming back for very long.

This game was tested and reviewed on Xbox One. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version.
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Good
  • fun for a brief period
  • good amount of events
  • colourful
Bad
  • games very short
  • no online so subject to local co-op friends
  • no real atmosphere in game
3.5
Lousy
Gameplay - 5
Graphics - 4
Audio - 2
Longevity - 3
Written by
I was born to win, well, or at least try. I review games, post news and other content at Xbox Tavern. When that's not happening, I'm collecting as many achievements as possible or hitting up the latest FPS / RPG. Feel free to add me - Gamertag: urbanfungus

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