So much potential, so close to a great game...
At its core, Torino is a good game, not a great game, but it could have been so much more. The graphics are very good, overall, and most of the sports are depicted very well.
The criticisms of the game that I have seen online fall into three categories:
First, that there isn't a lot of variety -- i.e., nordic combined is nothing more than jumping and skiing, or that bobsled and luge look like the same sport. Well, guess what? In real life, nordic combined IS nothing more than ski jumping and nordic skiing, and both the luge and bobsled are very similar -- a fast run on a sled down an ice track. If you were looking for a flight simulator or a car chase, look somewhere else.
Second, the game is simplistic. I agree. For luge you just steer the sled. For ski jump you just steer straight and then time your jump and landing. Downhill skiing is just a steering and crouching game. Once again, this is like real life! The difference between Gold and tenth place at the Olympics in luge comes down to who had the better start and who touched the wall once. You will learn this game quickly, but if you a fixated on perfecting your times and knocking a hundreth of a second off here or there, it will be the same thing over and over and over. Speaking as somebody who is trying to make the Olympic team, welcome to my life. If I do something a thousand times, and I can knock off a few seconds, I will see you in Vancouver in 2010. The beneficial side of making this a fairly easy game to learn is that Grandpa and his thirteen year old grandson and actually compete at this game fairly. There are no magic key combinations, no concepts that take 500 plays to learn, no tricks to master. First guy down the hill wins, and after a run or two, Grandpa has a good shot. Therefore, while this is NOT a great game for a 14 year old with ADD, it is a good fit for a family "game night" and is probably one of the few games with family-oriented content that parents and children can play together.
Third, the game lacks the majesty of the Olympics. I wholeheartedly agree with this complaint, and this is where I think the game falls down. It feels like the designers got 90% of the way there, and then just rushed it out the door to beat the opening ceremony. What kind of Olympics game doesn't have medal ceremonies or national anthems??? When you win, the sport just ends with a cheering crowd. That's it. What a waste! I remember a Winter Olympics game that was available on the C-64 back in the 80s. On that game, when you won you got a medal ceremony and the anthem of the country you were playing for and everything. It is simple, but at the fundamental core of the Olympics is national pride -- especially if you are a fan of the NBC coverage. How they left this out boggles the mind.
You also play against opponents with highly creative names like "Computer 1" or "Computer 6". In a world in which EA lets you command real-life football or hockey players in the Madden games, it seems like a waste that they couldn't let you race against Bode or Tomba in Alpine events, or Bjorndalen or Poiree in Biathlon (pronounced "BUY-athlon", not "BEE-athlon" as the announcers are wont to do.) It's a little thing, but it is one that would make it feel more like the Olympics, and not just a silly exercise.
Other little things are annoying, too, like the very repetitive comments by the announcers. My guess is that they made this game in several languages and had to keep it simple. It gets annoying after a while, but if you are playing with friends, their comments fill in dead air!