International Athletics (iPhone) Review
Posted by Joe Richardson on 06.21.2009
Ghostlight brings us into the world of international track and field, but is it worth the trip?
International Athletics brings gamers the most realistic track and field experience on the iPhone to date, but unfortunately it isn't able to overcome the inherent problems with translating these exciting events into a fun gameplay experience.
You begin the game by customizing a character. You can choose a few of their features as well as the country they represent. After this you can jump into a few different gameplay modes. You can enter into single "quick events" play tournaments, or engage in entire decathlons. The goal of course is to capture first place and take home the gold medal in each event. While playing, the current world record is displayed as well as your current personal best in the event. There is a brief instructional screen or two which lets you know how to play the event and then you're off.
The gameplay itself is where International Athletics hits the major stumbling block of track and field games. In real life track and field you are competing against both yourself and other athletes, but the main goal is simply to do something "the best." Run 100m the fastest, jump over the highest bar, throw a javelin the furthest distance and so on. There is minimal strategy in any of these and most of the time you are simply competing against yourself. While this is fine in it of itself, replayability is almost nil since you're just trying to do the same thing you've done only faster. To illustrate this point lets look at the 100m dash event.
To play you simply rub your finger across the screen as fast as possible. There is a max speed which you can run as indicated by a bar at the top of the screen. Basically the game counts down and when it says "Go" you just go nuts trying to rub the screen as quickly as possible. The problem is that the max speed is very easily attained and rubbing it faster won't make your character go any quicker, you're just stuck. Since there's no strategy involved other than "go as fast as you can" after you've done this event once, you probably will never feel the urge to do so again.
Other events fare better, with the throwing ones being the best of the bunch. In them you typically have to rub the screen in a circle then let go and press again when you're character gets to the angle you wish them to throw from. It takes a one step process to a two step one, but it's very easy to master. You'll be breaking world records in no time, and once you've done it there's no reason to do it again.
The jumping events are the most difficult, but unfortunately not because of challenging gameplay, but rather because the controls are very unintuitive. First you rub the screen back and forth, then you have to let go of the screen, tap it, choose your angle, and usually another factor such as the bend in your high jump. It's hard to time right and doesn't feel right to get your character up to speed, only to then stop touching the phone and have your speed decrease only to bring up the next menu. It doesn't help that the camera chooses different angles on sequential attempts which basically keeps you guessing as to when you need to actually start the "jump" sequence.
The graphics are definitely the high point, and the 3D settings look very good. This game would look right at home on the N64, which is pretty good for an iPhone. The menus are very intuitive and provide a great introduction to the game.
The 411
Though International Athletics looks great, the gameplay is fatally flawed. There isn't very much strategy involved and with a cap on the max speed with which you can do something severely limits the replayability of this game.
Graphics
9.0
Looks great and an easy showpiece if you want to demonstrate to your friends what a great looking iPhone game looks like.
Gameplay
5.5
Flawed, limiting, and not very fun. No strategy involved other than mostly rubbing your phone as fast as possible.
Sound
7.0
Crowd noise and cheers sound good and come in at the right time, but it's nothing you'll be singing the praises of.
Lasting Appeal
3.0
The only reason to play an event more than once is to see if you can set new personal bests. It doesn't help that the gameplay is pretty mundane to begin with.
Fun Factor
6.0
The first time you play each event may be interesting and challenging, but after successfully doing each event once the fun goes out the window.
