Olympic Games Tokyo 2020: The Official Video Game

While being a solid experience it is somehow stuck in between arcade and simulation. Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 isn't really one nor the other and thus makes it hard to recommend to either casual and core gamers.

SEGA tried to give a fresh spin to the classic multievent Olympics game and mostly did. The mix of arcade vibes and quite unusual choices in terms of disciplines works well and the game is fun, but its structure is pretty lacklustre and multiplayer is too much limited to shine properly.

Olympic Game Tokyo 2020 offers all the disciplines of the competitions, of course in arcade mode.

There’s an extra layer of complexity behind events such as judo that the quick and clear tutorials don’t let on about. This means it’s a game that welcomes people of all ages and skill levels, and allows them to play together. That’s the hashtag Olympic spirit! [Issue#4, p.77]

You can feel Sega's spirit everywhere in this arcade Olympics simulator, and even though the 18 different included sports does not offer much gameplay depth, it's still super fun to play especially if you can hook up with some other players online.

Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 – The Official Video Game is fun, especially when played with a friend. While some events aren’t as engaging as others, there’s enough variety here that everyone will find something they can enjoy or excel at. The huge range of outfits available to unlock gives completionists a reason to keep going back, but most players will find this best enjoyed in short bursts.

Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 is a great sports game but only a decent Olympics game. Nearly all of the 20 (or is it 16?) events offer an enjoyable enough time and only a few are bogged down by mechanics, but once you’ve played them all a couple of times, you’re done. If you dabble in the two player mode regularly or find a game online, it could be a deeper experience, but it just feels like the trimmings aren’t quite there. I won the boxing gold medal as a bunny rabbit maid with blue hair though, so there’s that.

If you have friends to play with regularly, I think this Tokyo 2020 is a great option for you, despite inconsistent event quality. There are enough good ones to have a great time, and you can make your own playlists to avoid the bad. For others, though, this is a more difficult recommendation. The single-player modes can be plenty fun, but there’s a lot of sitting around to get to those bursts of enjoyment, and its simplistic nature likely won’t hold your attention for long. I wish I could be confident the online modes will provide a way to keep the fun going, but early signs aren’t favorable. This is the sort of game I once called a great rental. Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 may not win the gold, but at the right price, it could squeak out a bronze.

Taken for what it is, Tokyo 2020 works well enough to carve a niche for itself as a surprisingly fun and easy to pick-up multiplayer game for families and parties.

Olympic Games Tokyo 2020: The Official Video Game is fine. It would've been nice to get some of the events from the Mario & Sonic series ported over to make this feel more robust compared to Sega's older Olympics titles, but what's here plays well enough if you don't mind some quirks — especially with the team games. The focus on multiplayer is warranted, since that's how the general public will approach it, but it would've been nice if there were more for the solo player to do. If you're looking for a party game and not a serious multi-discipline sports simulation, this isn't a bad choice.

Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 is a good game that features a variety of good-to-decent events and a wonderful ability to play alongside friends. The inconsistency of the game’s design with controls and the difficulty arc that spikes hurt the game but aren’t dealbreakers.

I've yet to take the game online so I can't comment on how it performs there, but locally Tokyo 2020 is a blast in co-op or played competitively. Whether it's table tennis or boxing, beach volleyball or the FIFA-lite football mode, controls are mostly well explained and fairly intuitive outside of a handful of select events (swimming, for example, is a test of precise timing and controller dexterity). Whether you're a seasoned gamer or not, you will find something here that you will come to really love, playing alongside someone else in a same-sofa scenario.

Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 - The Official Videogame doesn't have many sports, but has enough gameplay variety to keep you entertained with the multiplayer, smashing buttons in athleticism or playing arcade versions of football, basketball or baseball. If you're playing solo, it won't last you long.

With its arcade orientation, its cartoonish aspect and most of the 18 events that hold up, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games - The Official Game does its job quite well, although we would probably have preferred a game more in the vein of London 2012 to name but one. However, it remains a fun game to play with family and locally, the multiplayer being deserted. The game alone will not hold you back for long once all the events have been played two or three times.

Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games fails to revive the glories of the multi-event classics of the past. The development team's surprising choice in disciplines didn't pay off, with so many events lacking in appeal and quickly becoming boring. There are definitely successful moments (athletics, swimming) and with friends you can spend some pleasant hours, but in the long run there are no real reasons to keep playing and winning gold medals.

The base is solid, so are the minigames, but the resulting experience just isn’t deep enough for you to care about for more than a few hours. There’s no career mode and, what’s even more inexplicable, local multiplayer only supports two players. At least there’s a solid editor.

The game, with its flamboyant characters, fast action and simple controls, at times resembles ‘Wii Sports’ - still one of the best-selling sports games - and that's a compliment. It is also touching how enthusiastic the diverse participants are, whether they win a medal or lose hopelessly. Even in the virtual Olympics, taking part is more important than winning.

Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 – The Official Video Game gives you interesting, perhaps memorable, moments, but the lack of cohesion, the short duration of each event and the shallow gameplay make the game look more like an arcade compilation than an accurate portrayal of the Olympic Games. The fun is undeniable, but the ephemerality of this title is its biggest downfall.