This Google Doodle from Studio 4°C is worth playing even if you don’t care about the Olympics
Every once in a while, there’s a new Google Doodle worth chatting up on our humble video game blog, and today’s, the Olympics-inspired Doodle Champion Island Games from Studio 4°C, definitely fits the bill. It’s a JRPG romp, complete with an overworld, side-quests, and seven surprisingly fun mini-games to clear in whatever order you see fit.
There’s artistic swimming, archery, climbing, table tennis, rugby, a marathon, and skateboarding, and I honestly enjoyed them all. I only intended to dip my toes in — enough to share a few thoughts with this article — but I ended up doing, well, everything. The Doodle is playable on PC and mobile with keyboard, gamepad, and touch controls.
At the start, you’ll pick a team to represent (I went red), and then you’re free to explore.
This frog NPC was too cute not to share:
There’s a full-on animation whenever you win a scroll:
And here’s a sample of some of the mini-games:
My favorite part? (Aside from the lovingly crafted animated sequences that hype up and cap off each game.) When you finish Doodle Champion Island Games, the overworld gets a small but effective stylistic change, just like some of the classics RPGs it’s inspired by.
All told, I spent about half an hour; you can save a bit of time by rolling your way across the map. The only activity I struggled with was the marathon, which requires fast reflexes and some luck. When I finally did pull out the win, it was a split-second victory. Fun stuff.
Like other Google Doodles, you don’t actually have to show up today to play it — it’ll be archived. Google also shared a behind-the-scenes look at the game’s production.
One last tip: if you click the compass icon (in the top-left corner), there’s options including customizable controls, a leaderboard, and the ability to fast-travel to the different activities should you want to replay them. You can start a fresh save file here, too.
