Excellent graphics, in my opinion, are important in any good game, and Sega certainly didn't let us down here. Whether you're mid-race in a running event or getting ready to dive into the pool, you can always depend on the stunning looks of the surroundings. Simply everything is life-like, and the athletes become real as they cross the finish line first, last or somewhere in between, and show their emotions just as a real human would. The animations of the different sports are brilliant to watch, even if you're not winning, as there is so much variety with 38 different events to try your hand at.
Unfortunately, the developers didn't try so hard with the rest of the game.

There are three main modes to this game - Training, Competitions and The Olympics. Luckily, you're not thrown in right at the deep end and you will always have the chance to develop and perfect your skills in any of the 38 events available. The Training mode provides you with instructions on how to play the event you have chosen, and also gives you the chance to test those controls out. And of course, once you are ready to get out there and start competing, you still may not want to go for an Olympic medal just yet. This is where the Competition mode comes in handy. You can test your skills with other bot athletes without the pressure of losing everything if you make one wrong move.
Finally, when you think you're ready to take down the pros, you can put your skills to the ultimate test and compete against the champions. You will have to prove your worth in the trials first, and unfortunately failure in one of these events can get you kicked from the competition. But it'll all be worth it if you manage to get the gold medal and 'beat the game.' However, once you have completed the Olympics, there really isn't much else to do. The game has no story line so once you've won a gold medal, you can't really do much except win another one. Competitions seem petty after you've competed at Olympic level, so you're destined to repeat the same monotonous, exhausting events over and over again.
Now you may think that with all that training and preparation, you're destined for an Olympic gold medal. Unfortunately, you would be wrong. Most people do not have the superhuman thumb strength needed to get you to the top in the Running events, or the perfect timing required in order to hit the target in Shooting. Swimming is also difficult, as when you hit the water it becomes a little difficult to see which athlete is yours, and therefore you don't know if you're in the lead until the race is over. And the hurdles seem particularly demanding; expecting the participant to be able to do some serious button mashing while hitting right trigger at the exact right time in order to save your athlete from an exaggerated tumble. Sega certainly didn't want average gamers to succeed without some help, and it's hardly surprising that even the pros have trouble beating the bots. But at least you know that all this practice will help you kick some butt online.

If you're used to failing miserably in the impossible single player, then online multiplayer will make a nice break from the losing and thumb exhaustion. The multiplayer feature (both on and offline) on Beijing 2008 is possibly one of the best features, and certainly on a par with the graphics. If you have any reason to buy this game at all, it would surely be for the thrill of taking the game to xbox live and testing your skills against the best of the best. It's relatively simple to settle down into an online competition, apart from the long time it seems to take to find a host, but once you're in, get ready for some fun. You can relax in a friendly game with your buddies, or play to win in a serious online battle for first place.