The Olympics may be over, but that doesn’t mean your obsession has to be. If you’re
the kind of upstanding citizen who counts medals, sighs at silver and even finds those
stupid rowing competitions enthralling...don’t worry. Your debilitating love of sport can
continue with Summer Stars 2012.
Released earlier this Olympic summer, Summer Stars 2012 is a Kinect and Move compatible
sports compilation that basically gives people a cheap Olympics game without the Olympics
branding. It has nearly 20 events, spanning everything from archery and biking to running
and freaking jumping.
No dressage, though. Sorry, Rafalca.
Now, again...this is a budget release. It only costs about $20 new, so it’s obviously
an affordable option. And you might be surprised to hear...it’s also a decent one. Summer
Stars 2012 is comprised of sports minigames that are mostly very solid. In fact, I was
surprised to find myself actually enjoying some of them...especially the archery.
One really great thing about Summer Stars 2012 is that, if you’re not into the Move
controller—and who can freaking blame you?—it also supports the DualShock. The game plays
fine either way, and it’s nice to have that kind of flexibility.
So what are the drawbacks? Well, being a budget title, most of them have to do with presentation.
So all the names, places, music...all generic. You can’t even name your character. So the
game does have that, you know...big bag of nameless cereal vibe. This isn’t Froot Loops,
you know?
It’s like...Loops of Froots.
There’s a career mode, which guides you through the events one by one. There’s a
mode for free play of events, as well as some sparse multiplayer options. See, this is another
area in which the game feels budget-y...there’s not a whole lot of content in Summer Stars,
but fortunately, what’s there is better than you’d expect.
I wouldn’t recommend this game to most people, but if you’re really into sports compilations
or the Olympics in general, this might be one to check out. It’s the inexpensive and
surprisingly decent Summer Stars 2012.
Well, “stars” might be a strong word.
