Biathlon 2004 PC

Biathlon 2004 is an interesting proposition of Ubisoft for fans of Tomasz Sikora for the year 2004. Although winter sport combining precise, demanding concentration and focus shooting with a very strong and exhausting running, is not a very frequent subject of computer games, it has a large number of fans all over the world and it is to them that the title is directed.

Programmers have prepared three main game modes. The first and probably the most attractive Career module gives the player the opportunity to create their own athlete and try their hand at competing for the highest prizes including the title of world champion. Less patient players will gladly use the Arcade mode, in which we jump straight on the route without any unnecessary mistakes and compete for primacy by choosing one of the several available difficulty levels beforehand. Finally, in Time Attack mode we set off into a shooting and running pursuit of the "Leader's Spirit". (something a'la ghost mode) - the only way to defeat a delicacy in such a situation is to twist better and better times in specific rounds, of course, while maintaining a clean account at the shooting range. Regardless of which game mode we use, we are always accompanied by a comment from professional TV rapporteur Wilfried Harek (present in the original German version of the game). If we don't do anything, we can always count on the help of a professional biathlete - in this case it's 10 times world champion and 2 times Olympic champion from Lillehammer and Nagano - German Frank Luck.

The game is powered by a three-dimensional graphical engine with full texturing support for 3D models, dynamic support for chiaroscuro and a module responsible for realistic physics simulation (offering, among other things, dynamic character skeleton animation). All routes are equipped with multi-level landscapes, so that we do not race on the plains several dozen kilometers long, but on areas full of hills, valleys and forests. A lot of time and energy has also been devoted to creating an intuitive and comfortable control of the rider, making it easier to compete with the best opponents. The latter were endowed with decent artificial intelligence, so we will not soon start winning all competitions without difficulty. The audio-visual message is complemented by a realistic weather system and a 3D sound controller, which should be particularly pleasing for card holders and loudspeakers operating in systems 4.0/4.1 and higher.

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Last updated on 10 December 2007