It seems strange to have a competitive winter sports game that doesn’t come associated with the Winter Olympics. It feels weird that we don’t have Mario or Sonic in tow too.
But Winter Games 2023 is bucking a ton of trends, taking players deep into a winter sports scene at a time when those winter sports themselves are far from anyone’s consciousness.
The thing is, Olympic tag or not, interest or not, Winter Games 2023 is a seriously poor showing, one that is getting close to the levels of Eddie the Eagle or the Jamaican bobsled team.
It does what you would expect though, as Wild River Games give you the opportunity to embark on your Winter Games 2023 career alone or with local friends alongside you. It covers the bases of those winter sports too and we’re not sure it’s skimped on too many of the classics. That means we’re getting the chance to prove our worth across a number of events and disciplines: Bobsleigh, Skeleton, Ski Jumping, Ski Cross, Snowboard Cross, Super-G, Downhill, Biathlon, Short Track, Curling and Downhill.
The events themselves are reasonably well defined and even though many of the control schemes are pasted for multiple events, and the likes of Bobsleigh and Skeleton, and Downhill and Super-G are pretty much the same event, the first few attempts at medal grabbing are fun enough.
But very quickly Winter Games 2023 becomes tiresome, highly repetitive and extremely dull. It’s about as far from becoming a medallist as you will find.
There are multiple reasons for that. Firstly, aside from some rather neatly delivered cut images which play out prior to any event, the visuals are nothing short of terrible. It’s like Wild River have taken something like Torino 2006 – the official Winter Olympics game from years gone by – as inspiration; blocky characters, poor facial imagery, and a dullness that reeks of last-gen at the very best. There’s not an awful lot to enjoy about the arenas you’ll compete in either: snow, snow and more snow, with any structures once again lacking in detail and texture.
It’s pretty poor in terms of the audio too. Commentary and event announcements are repeated for every single event and once you’ve heard that it’s ‘a fine day’ and that ‘all participants are in their best condition’ once, you’ve heard it a million times. Granted, in-event sounds are just about okay, but these are, by their very nature, obviously seriously limited.
Not sold on the back of the visuals, it’s pretty much the events themselves which are left to save things. It’s not particularly good news in that respect either.
Aside from the Curling which is relatively well created, with some tactical play delivered, the vast majority of Winter Games 2023 sees you needing to hammer the A button every now and then, to hold the RT to continue the built up speed, and then to tease the thumbstick for directional control. There are slight amendments to that, mostly in Biathlon as you occasionally alternately hit two buttons before slowing things down in the shooting range, but for the most part Winter Games 2023 is a highly repetitive experience.
Honestly, we expected that. We’ve been playing winter, summer and Olympic games titles for decades, and still have extremely fond memories of the likes of Track & Field and Daley Thompson’s Decathlon. But whilst those games had enthusiasm, character and soul, Winter Games 2023 is a tiresome competitor; one that provides little reason for you to want to better previous bests and wotnot.
That’s not to say there aren’t the options there. Winter Games 2023 allows you to play through the individual disciplines as you wish, and it’s got a number of different cups for you to work through, all of which come in three difficulty levels – easy (far too easy), medium (still fairly easy) and hard (the only time you’ll need to really test your button bashing). There’s even a custom cup available for you to amend events as you see fit. Pretty much everything can be taken in alone, or with up to three local friends should you wish to add this to a party playlist. We’re guessing it won’t stay on that list for long though.
Ultimately, Winter Games 2023 will be a game that you find yourself playing for an hour or so tops, before the repetitive nature and poor presentation start to properly grate. That’s not because of the omission of any Olympic tag holding Winter Games 2023 back, but more because of the lack of any proper fun or enjoyment.
And we’re pretty sure that any sports title of this nature needs those in abundance if it is looking to step onto the podium.
Winter Games 2023 is available from the Xbox Store
