With the opening ceremonies of the London 2012 Olympics kicking off in just a few short hours, what better way to get into the Olympic spirit, than to actually compete like an Olympian.
These ten iOS games aim to recreate the action of what it’s like to compete in these feats of athleticism, with just your iDevice and a couple of fingers.
I’ve tried out all but one of these titles on both the iPad and iPhone (when possible) and I’ve provided my thoughts below.
If you’ve got Olympic fever then you may want to check out some of these games…some are even free!
Universal
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Stickman Games : Summer Edition
Free
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This game tackles a number of olympic disciplines including multiple events in running, hurdles, freestyle swimming and archery, as well as the javelin throw and the long jump. I personally had a lot of difficulty getting the swipe controls on this one to recognize my moves, or build up more than a slow walk in any of the events that required running or swimming. I tried on both the iPad and the iPhone with no luck on either. If it’s still free, then you might as well grab a copy and see if you have better luck than I did.
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iPhone
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Finger Games at London
Free (Full ver IAP $1.99)
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The free version of the game gives you the 100m dash, long jump and the 110m hurdles, with a $1.99 IAP adding the javelin throw, high jump, pole vault and 400m dash. This is an iPhone-only title, but has solid controls that work well with the smaller form-factor device, and includes accelerometer support for jumping hurdles, which I actually enjoyed more than I thought I would. If I had one complaint it’d be that it is far too easy to accidentally cancel out of an event even when you are already a couple of attempts in.
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iPhone
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iPad
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Office Jerk Summer Games Edition
iPhone: Free | iPad: Free
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Okay, so this game doesn’t actually have you competing in any Olympic events, but it was free so I figured I might as well include it. It is one of those type of games where you are throwing an object at a target and you need to adjust your swiping speed and trajectory based on wind conditions. Where the Olympics come into play is that your target is the head of one of the Olympic Gymnastics judges (you can pretend he’s from whatever country you’d like) and you are trying to land a fully loaded hot dog on his noggin, with additional and far worse items unlocked as you go.
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Universal
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Universal
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London 2012 – Official Mobile Game – Free / Premium
Lite: Free | Premium: 99¢
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Featuring 9 events including 100m dash, 110m Hurdles, triple jump, pole vault, 100m freestyle, 100m butterfly, kayak, double trap and archery, this is ‘the official mobile’ game of the Olympics. The olympic committee must be in need of some serious funding, because it feels more like a micro-transaction moneymaker than a legitimate game. Do yourself a favor and stick with the free version as even with the paid version, all of the events are not immediately unlocked and will require a consistent daily effort or a decent amount of real money spent on virtual currency to do so. This one was a BIG disappointment.
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Universal
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Universal
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Summer Games 3D – Lite / Full
Lite: Free | Full: 99¢
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Boasting an impressive 20 events, this is easily the most comprehensive title of the bunch. If you grab the free version, you can try out the 100m dash, 400m dash and the javelin. This game offers a two-player mode where opponents compete in events either head to head via a split screen (where appropriate) or serially on the same device, depending on the event. There is also a choice of three different control schemes, one of which involves tapping a random set of numbers sequentially, which just didn’t seem to make any sense to me, so really two control schemes. The first is the traditional, tap the feet to run, with a separate button to jump/throw, the other aims to simplify things where running is handled for you and you just set your angle of throw/jump before starting and tap throw/jump button when necessary. Overall this was a fun game, the completeness of events and two player mode make it one of the better titles, but the graphics feel a bit to blocky and the UI and buttons seem a bit unpolished.
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iPhone
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iPad
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Athletics 2012 – iPhone / iPad
iPhone: Free | iPad: Free
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This game is limited to the 100m, 200m and 400m dash. It offers a unique first-person point of view which was kind of neat. You probably won’t have this on your device for very long, but its a fun freebie to try out.
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Universal
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Flick Champions World Edition
99¢
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The Flick Champions are back, this time getting you into the spirit of the Summer Games with eight “classic tests of human endurance” including: Running, Volleyball, Swimming, Javelin, Kayaking, Handball, Hammer Throw and Synchronized Swimming. Great artwork, intuitive controls and a lot of polish make this an easy one to recommend. It is a universal app and there is a really cool daily challenge feature. It is a rotating series of goals like ‘win a medal’ or ‘reach a certain speed in any event’. Successful completion of these goals will earn you XP and tokens for unlocking in-game items. It’s a great way to keep you coming back to the game again and again. This was EASILY one of my favorites.
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Universal
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London Summer Sports
99¢
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This is the only title on this list which I have not tried, mostly because it only includes 3 events, hurdle, triple jump and javelin. It looks like it has some nice graphics, but I just couldn’t justify spending the 99¢ on this one when the others offered so much more for the money.
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Universal
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Toons Summer Games 2012
99¢
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This was easily one of the most fun titles, with a slightly less serious tone. Events include swimming, weight lifting, table tennis, hurdles, pole vault, hammer throw, javelin, soccer (though more of a keep the ball in the air sort of thing), kayak and bmx biking. There is a simple set of solid controls and lots of cute characters. Three game modes including single event, seven random sequential events and a rather cool survival mode. Optionally, players can purchase “boosts” to help them with events using earned in-game currency.
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iPhone
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iPad
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Summer Games – iPhone / iPad
iPhone: 99¢ | iPad: 99¢
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I had to pick this one up for the iPad since I played A LOT of the original 1984 Epyx game with a keyboard (and occasionally a joystick) on my apple ][e. As far as I can tell, this is a perfect replica of the original 8-bit game and offers a number of customizable control schemes including a virtual joystick, virtual keyboard keys and iCade support. The sports that are included are pole vault, diving, 4 x 400m relay, 100m dash, gymnastics, freestyle relay, 100m freestyle, and skeet shooting. This was an awesome blast from the past for me, but if there is nothing nostalgic about this game for you, then you should stick with one of the other titles instead.
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