Keep the excitement of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games alive with Sega’s Beijing 2008, a game full of 38 Olympic events starring YOU.

But does Sega win a gold medal? My heart quickened a little when I opened the game. I was ready to win all the medals or at least try. But there’s a problem right off: You have to download some of the game onto your console before you can play. Expect a five-minute wait, which is kind of a buzzkill.

OUT OF THE STARTING BLOCK

You’re then witness to a fireworks-filled Olympic stadium. While the game loads, you can press your controller buttons to blast off your own fireworks. The graphics here are stellar. Before you start in the games themselves, I’d suggest a healthy amount of tutorial play first. That’s because these Olympics can be very challenging. It looks easy, but it takes practice even to throw a shot put or to go more than 10 feet in the long jump.

One of the problems I found is that there’s a lack of play-by-play announcing. You’re often at an event with very little commentary. Maybe Sega was going for what an athlete feels as he or she competes, but I don’t think so. Often when you finish a game, you’ll get a replay of your race or throw, and that’s where the commentary comes in.

Also, this is a game that focuses mainly on individual competition; you won’t find beach volleyball or soccer. There’s a lot of track and field and swimming. The graphics on both systems shine with realism. While the athletes move fluidly as you play, their facial expressions do appear a little robotic.

One real shame is that Michael Phelps isn’t a cover athlete. You’ll find gymnast Nastia Liukin and shot putter Reese Hoffa, but featuring Phelps would have made the game a keeper for years to come.

GAME FOR THE GAMEPLAY?

The gameplay itself can be very good — sometimes.  At other times, it’s just too difficult. First, you have to learn how to begin your event at just the right time. You’ll press the X button on your PS3 controller or A on your 360 so that the icon goes from red to green onscreen. If it goes to green at the right time, you get a headstart. If it goes to green before the gun sounds and you jump early, you’re disqualified.

Using a controller to mimic these fine athletes’ moves isn’t exactly like participating in the real sport. Yet the developers did what they could to make it feel more real. In swimming, you mimic arm movements by turning the controller sticks in a circle, one clockwise, the other counterclockwise. That’s pretty inventive.

I found the shot put to be hard to master, but fulfilling when I did. It’s not hard to rotate either of the sticks to spin and build power for your throw, but it is awkward to throw it at the right time. You have to hold the L2 or R2 button to get the perfect angle while you’re building power and then release the shot put. Doing this in real life is far more intuitive than doing it in Beijing 2008.

The easiest play in gymnastics is the floor exercise. You simply watch the icons onscreen and match them to those on your controller, kind of like a Dance Dance Revolution game. With other gymnastics events, the game becomes tougher to play again.

Track challenges like the 800- and 1,500-meter runs are perhaps the easiest with the controllers. Just press X and O alternatively for the PS3, and A and B alternatively for the Xbox 360. But you have to pace yourself. You’ll poop out if you immediately speed to get to the front of the pack. If the race is close at the end, you can even lunge forward to try to win.

ONLINE OLYMPICS

Probably the best part of the game is the ability to compete with others online across the world. Playing online is always a mixed experience. Even the best games include lag time and frame rate drops. Here, I found the most lag time came with a longer game: table tennis. The shorter events like swimming are smoother and a joy to play.

So which is better, the PS3 or the Xbox 360 version? Since there’s a ton of button pressing and stick turning, I’d opt for the lighter PS3 controller over the 360. But you’ll probably find more people to compete against online with the 360. The graphics are very similar in both consoles.

Where’s the Wii version of the game that was promised when the other console games launched? The Wii, with its motion sensors, would be the perfect way to immerse you into the games. Imagine moving the Wiimote in a circle to mimic a shot put windup and then launching that 16-pound ball.

Everyone interested in the Olympics should at least go rent this game. If you like what you see, buy it. If you don’t, you’re only out a few bucks.