Initial release date 18 January 2002 | ||
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Genre Sports game (Olympic video games) Similar Olympic video games, Other games | ||
Salt Lake 2002 is the official video game of the XIX Olympic Winter Games, hosted by Salt Lake City, Utah, United States in 2002. Developed by ATD and published by Eidos (DC Studios Inc./Ubisoft for the Game Boy Advance version), it was released for the PC, PlayStation 2 and Game Boy Advance.
Contents
Following the success of Sydney 2000, Eidos trusted the Olympic license once again to ATD. The game uses the same graphic style and presentation of the previous game, only with more details. However, while Sydney 2000 managed good sales and positive reviews, Salt Lake 2002 failed to achieve either. The lack of crucial and popular events such as cross-country, biathlon, speed skating or figure skating, combined with only six events (of which 3 involve gates) turned the game into another flop based on the Winter Olympics.
Competition
There are four game modes: Olympic, Tournament, Classic and Time Trial. The Olympic Mode returns to the simplistic direct-to-competition mode, unlike Sydney 2000 that forced the player to qualify for the Olympics. Each players' victories are logged, and trophies/medals can be seen in a trophy room. Gameplaywise, the events are unevenly done. While the downhill/slalom events are reasonably simulated and playable (one can play downhill in first person view, and at easier levels missing a gate in the slalom does not disqualify the player), in ski jump and bobsleigh results are generally hard to predict or control.
Playable nations
There is a total of 16 playable countries in the game. They are:
Events
Reception
Salt Lake 2002 has received generally mixed to negative reviews from critics. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the Game Boy Advance version a 56.36% and 55/100, the PC version a 48.90% and 44/100 and the PlayStation 2 version a 48.33% and 49/100.