London 2012 Video Game Actually Not Terrible

With 28 days til the 2012 Olympic Games in London, the U.S. Olympic Trials are going on in full force.  Unfortunately, that wasn't enough to quell my need for the competition.  London 2012 is available for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC, and compared to its predecessors, its actually a pretty fun and challenging game.

I'm sure everyone has played an Olympic game at some point, whether it be the old school Track and Field or something like Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games.  Both are awesome in their own right, but after a while you realize you're tired and sore and sweating profusely from the button-mashing or waving the Wii-mote around.

London 2012 takes button-mashing and makes it into more of a timing mechanism.  Rather than mash during a 100-meter sprint, now you will have to pace your tapping to fill up a meter and keep it above a line, or else your sprinter's strides will be affected.  In the swimming events, you use the left and right sticks to mimic the swimmers' arms through the water.  It works surprisingly well, and the learning curve to it makes this game a lot more enjoyable.

The game has 46 sports to offer, although a lot of them can be repetitive, like the diving and gymnastics events comprising of timed sequences in which all you do is hit a button at the right time.  All of the track and field events are awesome, the shooting events are just a fun, and even the repetitive sports like swimming (having both the 50m and 100m freestyle, men's and women's) keep you into it because you just want to crush everyone with the USA.

Overall, I'd probably put this game around a 7, maybe a little lower.  It can get repetitive, but if you play with multiple people, it makes it pretty awesome.  Only 50 bucks, too, as opposed to the normal $60 for a new game.  Go USA.