Play TM Review: Beijing 2008

Considering that every major sporting event comes with a licensed videogame companion these days, it's hardly surprising to note that the looming summer Olympics in China have spawned an official Beijing 2008 title to help squeeze yet more profit from the bloated sporting cash cow. What is perhaps a little surprising however, is that Beijing 2008 isn't liberally emblazoned with a million and one ominous Electronic Arts logos.

Yet, while Japanese gaming giant SEGA is holding onto the publishing reins and Eurocom (Athens 2004, Batman Begins) returns to the Olympic fray to push content from the developmental end, Beijing 2008 offers itself up as a hugely ambitious but wildly erratic mishmash of sporting near misses that manages to delight and frustrate in (un)equal amounts.