Advantages: Loads to see and do. Quite cheap
Disadvantages: Busy

...Sydney has everything to suit an independent traveller on a budget. There is plenty of cheap accommodation, lots to see and do, excellent transportation and a whole lot more. I arrived by train, at the Central station. Situated literally just accross the road from this is the Sydney Central YHA, a huge, fantastic youth hostel. However, in spite of being so massive, its many facilities make it extremely popular so my advice is to book in advance. If you don't want to stay here, there are many other backpacker-type places splashed all over the city and its suberbs. Getting around Sydney is easy. it has a fantastic public transport system which includdes buses, tram-type trains and even a monorail system. However, when you have a little more time on your hands make sure to walk around the city, it is truly amazing. There is lots... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: good graphics
Disadvantages: becomes tiresome

...It seems that every four years, people around the globe become singularly possessed by a condition known as "Olympic fever." As the games of the XXVIIth Olympiad got underway in Sydney, Australia during the past week, occurrences of this condition have continued to escalate. You need only to look around you to find examples of the Olympics' influence on everyday life. A quick survey of common household products will likely result in encountering everything from the "official credit card of the 2000 Olympics" to the "official snack food of the 2000 Olympics" and, yes… even the "official video game of the 2000 Olympics!" Sydney 2000, developed by Attention To Detail (ATD) and published by Eidos Interactive, is the aforementioned official video game of the 2000 Summer Games. Unlike products such as the "official nose hair tweezers... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Very realistic events.
Disadvantages: Sadly the names of the athelets are still not there.

...[sydney 2000] Well, for once the Olympics brought Great Britain some joy. The games perhaps helped to rekindle some of England's pride in it's sportsmen and athletes following the sporting disaster that the past year has been (the only other thing worth watching on TV this year was Big Brother, and we all agree that Anna should have won…). Sydney 2000 does the games justice, gathering the most popular events of the Olympics with a few of the more unconventional games. One moment you could be the fastest man on the planet, and the next you could be doing a belly flop in the 10m diving. Probably the oddest event that you will find in Sydney 2000 is the k1 kayaking. This takes place in the exact replica of the course in Sydney and it's probably the hardest challenge of them all. The object is more difficult than it might sound... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Lots of events
Disadvantages: Still lots of button pounding

...When I received this game my thumbs prickled with memories of games like Track and Field that depended on your ability to pound buttons until your fingers swell into unusable calloused sausages. I was though pleasantly surprised by Sydney 2000 it is a very, very good game that even a medium button pounder like myself can get into. The concept is very simple you have a variety of modes for a variety of Olympic sports, while there are several disciplines missing (Judo and Gymnastics for example) there is a pleasantly broad enough range to please anyone. The modes themselves will be familiar to any Dreamcast owner, firstly there is Arcade where you progress through the 12 disciplines in a steady fashion getting the best results you can in each. Coaching, where you have the opportunity to improve your skills with the addition... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: fun, especialy in multiplayer
Disadvantages: sore thumbs ;)

...In short if you like the button bashing variety of sports game you'll love this. I found Sydney 2000 to be a vast improvement over International Track And Field, the animation is nothing short of excellent and the stadiums look great (the white water in the Kayak Slalom looks particularly impressive) . Although the game play is still in the classic button bashing guise you feel the developers have really made an effort in the one player game. As anyone who has played International Track And Field will know the single player experience can be tedious. Not so with Sydney 2000 where you can train a team up through local and national competitions preparing them for the games in Sydney. In summary I found Sydney 2000 to have that must-go-back-for-more feeling that other similar games have lacked. If you only buy one sports game... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Awesome place/great photo opportunities!
Disadvantages: I was jet lagged when we saw it!

...Last Summer I was lucky enough to go on a world rugby tour to Australia and New Zealand, it was an amazing trip and I am going to review each section of the trip, to let you know how fantastic it was! I will try not to do it in a blog style and hopefully tell you what the places were actually like, how good/bad parts of the trip were rather than simply 'how great the trip was'. Then hopefully if you are planning a trip to Australia and New Zealand you might find something in my review that you would like to do or a place which you want to see. I will put up lots of pictures as well so you get a feel for the places I'm reviewing. Basically our tour consisted of flying to Sydney for 3 days, then to New Zealand for 9 days, then back to Brisbane in Australia for a final few luxurious rugby free days and finally home. A lot of flying... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Great multiplayer options
Disadvantages: Too repetitive141

...Now some of you may be thinking that I have drawn you into this one with a false title but not so! I am never a liar and much less am I one to decieve my readers. To find out precisely what I mean, read on.... Sydney 2000 is a game for the Dreamcast that simulates the olympic games in Sydney 2000 (never have guessed it would you?). You can participate in 12 events and each one has its own skills but there is one theme throughout, button bashing. Before I cover the events I have to first mention the strongest possible point of this game. It doenst matter where you are in time, who you are with or how little you have played on a console before, you can still pick this game up and win. Why is this important? You try having 3 of your mates around and racing each other in the 100m final! It leads to some pretty excited drinking... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Olympic mode - spend a long time training before you win the gold
Disadvantages: Graphics aren't as good as Track & Field 2

...When I got my first look at Sydney 2000 I instantly thought it was nowhere near as good as Track & Field or Track & Field 2. The graphics are quite poor and the events didn't look particularly good. But playing the game against friends using my multitap made the game very fun and quite addictive. The events are more complicated than on Track & Field, which I think is a good feature. I was playing on this game on a 2 day rental, and almost the entire time I stayed on multiplayer arcade mode. Litle did I realise how much more the game has to offer. In Olympic mode you can spend half-hours or even hours just to become gold medallist at one event. As this takes long, you can save your game. I did the 100m sprint. I started off training in teh virtual gym, a good feature where you train your athlete for the big event. For sprinters... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Weather, Scenery, Culture
Disadvantages: Too far from UK!

...As I lived and worked in Sydney for two years, I thought I would share my experiences with you. I first went to Sydney in November 1997, but unfortunately this was only for a few days as I was on a three week assignment in Brisbane. However, less than six months later, I got the opportunity to move to Sydney in the course of my job. A Little Bit of Australian History --------------------------------------- Well, as we all know, in the beginning, the only residents of Australia were Aborigines. However, European man started to explore and everyone wanted to find the Great Land they had heard about. A Dutch Captain, William Jansz landed in 1606, but he figured there was nothing to be had there. However, exploration still continued and in 1642 Abel Tasman was in the area. He discovered Van Diemens Land, or what we now call... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Excellent City, Clean streets, Great Transport, Loads to do
Disadvantages: Changable and Blustery in Winter, A Bit too far from Ireland

...I stayed in Sydney for over 10 months in 2003 and the hardest thing I had to do was to leave the place. Sydney is an amazing city, with so much to do you will never get bored. From the Harbour area to the beaches of Bondi - theres something for everyone. When we arrived we did the usual tourist trips, Opera House, Harbour Bridge, Trips on the Harbour Ferries, Centrepoint Tower but as time went on we found a hidden Sydney. These are areas or items in Sydney which are not on the usual tourist trail. Places like Suzannah Place in the Rocks which documents early life around 1830, and how the working classes lived. It is a living museum. Other areas of interest included Balmain, Manly, Paddington and Potts Point. We were lucky enough to be there for the New Years Eve fireworks and they are as amazing as people say. However if you... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful