IGN writes: "With the Olympics currently in full swing over in Beijing, we're seeing a handful of Olympics and track and field games hit store shelves. The latest comes from 49Games, Summer Athletics: The Ultimate Challenge. Though SEGA wrapped up the official Olympics license with the aptly-titled Beijing 2008: The Official Video Game of the Olympic Games, Summer Athletics still has many of the events that you'd expect to find at the games, totaling more than 20 in the package.
Events range from things like the 100m dash to diving to various swim events to cycling to archery and more, giving players a good and wide variety of challenges to take part in. An interesting twist to the overall gameplay mechanic is that in many modes (though not the main Career mode) you're able to switch between Pure and Arcade settings. Pure relies solely on your skill, though Arcade tosses in a handful of bonuses that you can use during events, like a boost during a running event or so forth. You're limited in the total number that you can use over the course of a competition to keep you from relying on them to win every event, but if you're half-decent at something, it'll easily push you over the edge."
