Maria Riesch Skiing

Every few months, news of the rising cost of the 2012 Olympics is splashed all over our nation's papers. A billion here. Another billion there.

At this rate, we'll all be holding car boot sales to afford the expense. However, apart from the small period of time when the Olympics actually take place, the majority of the sporting events, and even some of the athletes who make up the whole torch-flailing fiasco are pretty much forgotten - Christine Ohuruogu anyone?

It's even worse for the events making up the Winter Olympics.

Indeed, you probably won't have heard of Maria Riesch, but the blonde Bavarian is one of skiing's big names and the face in front of this particular winter sports title. Maria Riesch Skiing is a fairly sober take on the sort of skiing you may be used to seeing on TV, such as the Super G, Slalom, Grand Slalom and Downhill events. Each sees you weaving around and thorough various obstacles as you career down a mountain.

You view your skier from behind, with the mountain descending away into the horizon. This horizon cut-off point occurs fairly low down on the game screen, however, meaning most of the screen is filled with a pretty picture of a snowy mountain. Whilst this image is crisp and realistic - enough to make those with snow in their marrow long for an alpine slope - the rest of the visuals are rather drab.

Unfortunately, the gameplay doesn't do much to halt Maria Riesch launching off into the icy precipice graphical of mediocrity either.

The main game mode is the tournament, where you make your way through a linear roster of events. Completing the events unlocks them for the Single Event mode.

The game boasts a large selection of mountains routes throughout these events but you'd be hard pressed to see many differences between them. Sure, it might be argued that in real life one mountain will indeed look like another when you're thundering down a slalom course, but in a game designed for excitement, this argument is less than convincing.

Similarly, there's little difference between the events on offer. You'll spend your time simply nudging the '4' and '6' keys, dodging those all-too-similar game obstacles. And there's not that much of a sense of speed to act as any sort of consolation.

What Maria Riesch Skiing offers then is a staid attempt at bringing the real-life events of the winter Olympics to your mobile. Unfortunately, those game-crafting bods haven't had all much success. Maria Riesch Skiing comes across as clunky and uninspired.

So, by the time this game reaches the bottom of the proverbial slope, proceedings have devolved, metaphorically at least, into a collection of flailing limbs poking out a mound of melting snow.