Sydney 2000

What better place to stage the Olympics than Australia, a country where, if you believe the stereotypes, the sun always shines, the beer flows freely and people are happy and healthy.

It seems to be the perfect venue for staging the games, although you'd have to be rich enough to be able to take a month off work. We're not, and we're damned if we're going to stay up until the wee hours to watch some muscular he-woman throwing hammers across the park. But we haven't given up on the event entirely. Oh no. Thanks to Eidos and English based development team Attention To Detail, we're actually going to be taking part.

Due for release in August, Sydney 2000 will feature three distinct modes of play, which are set to transform this type of game from a keyboard-breaking nightmare into a more tactical simulation. Olympic mode is the most impressive and gives you a set of 12 athletes specializing in different events. You have to train them up, make sure they qualify for their disciplines and build them up in your own virtual gym.

If you qualify for the actual Olympics you can take part in the 100m sprint, 110m hurdles, hammer, javelin, triple jump, high jump, 100m freestyle swimming, sprint cycling, skeet shooting, weightlifting, diving and kayak racing. To win gold you'll have to master special keypad skills, such as navigating through rapids in the kayaking, ensuring you make jumps with your leading leg in the 110m hurdles and mastering co-ordination and timing in the diving. The actual method of control is still being tweaked, but old-timers can take heart that some degree of keyboard pounding will be necessary. If you can't be arced training your athletes you can plunge straight into the events themselves and forget the management side. If you're a couch potato you can forget about exercising your fingers and just take the training and management route. But what makes the Olympics so special? Taking part with others, of course. And S2000 will cater for loads of lads and their beer by offering an eight-player mode, where you can compete in any of the 12 events with real or imaginary friends. All-in-all it sounds as if there's going to be something for everyone.

In order to cater for the 32 countries taking part in the Games, Attention To Detail is providing unique models for each nation. What's more, it's making sure that every location used in the Olympics is accurately recreated, by utilizing the actual design blueprints for the sporting arenas. Commentary is also provided, so S2000 certainly won't be lacking in the detail department. We reckon it's refreshing to see a developer trying to add something extra to the tired formula used by so many track-and-field-type games, and not just relying on a license to sell its product. Of course, we could be proved wrong, but we reckon S2000 is going to be a barrel of laughs. Pass the steroids...