The official video game of the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, which were held in Athens in August 2004, Athens 2004 features 25 events that are spread out across 8 different sports, the real stadiums and arenas such as the state-of-the-art Olympic Stadium that was built for the competition, and the Panathinaiko, venue of the first modern Olympics, as well as 64 nations from all over the world.
While most of the action is still influenced by the old button-mashers of the early 1980s, some events include fascinating twists. This is despite the fact that new developers Eurocom (after two games from ATD) kept most of the gameplay the same. There are two medium-distance races (the 800m and the 1500m) that demand the player to regulate their pace in order to approach the last curve fresh enough to have a second wind and sprint toward the finish. Sprinting events, on the other hand, do not require any introductions. Other advancements have been made in the field events, such as the high jump requiring the player to alternate buttons not as quickly as possible but timing them as well as possible to the athlete’s steps as possible, and the discus requiring the player to circle the analog knobs in order to build up power, amongst other advancements.
There are four different swimming events, and each one is played out in the same manner as a sprinting event, with the exception that the athlete must breathe as quickly as possible at intervals. If they don’t, they risk losing valuable speed over the course of the race.
In gymnastics, the floor exercises vary depending on the player’s gender. Men’s floor exercises are primarily based on power, with button mashing sequences followed by timed button presses, whereas women’s floor exercises require the player to follow on-screen cues (similar to games such as Dance Dance Revolution). Rings require the player to use both analogs to match the on-screen cues, and the vault requires the player to button mash before following an on-screen cue In certain of these competitions, the participant will be required to select a routine from among those that have been predetermined. This decision will have an impact on both the level of difficulty and the maximum score that the judges will assign.
The equestrian individual jump competition is making its debut in an official video game for the first time. This competition requires the player to guide the horse through the course, jumping over obstacles while maintaining a consistent pace. The winner is determined by who completed the course in the least amount of time while accruing the fewest penalties from colliding with obstacles.
Skeet replaces the free-aim gameplay of Sydney 2000 with one in which the player must follow a predefined course in order to progress through the game. Archery has only been significantly altered from earlier titles in the genre.
The first game mode is an arcade, which includes practice, single competitions, and a special mode designed with dance mats in mind. The second game mode is competition, in which the player can customize their Olympics in order to play in just one final, compete in the decathlon or heptathlon, all pool or gymnastics events, or become one in the Champion mode, which features all 25 events, with the winner being the one who accumulates the most points.
