Genre : Video Game
Publisher: Sega
Players: 1-4
Retail Price: $50
Availability: Nintendo Wii
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games is an interesting attempt at combining two of the most recognizable icons in gaming. The Olympics probably wouldn’t have been my first choice of a game featuring these two characters, but it works in many ways that make it an enjoyable experience.
So lets take a moment to talk about the characters. The game takes sixteen different characters from the Mario and Sonic universes and puts them into four different categories based on their strengths. I’ve been a bit out of the loop as far as the Sonic universe, so out of the eight I think I had only played a Sonic game with four or five of them. Most of the characters should be instantly recognizable and they each have their own strengths and weaknesses based on the different events you have them compete in. Sonic is obviously great for speed, but if you’re playing a strength event it might be a good idea to grab someone like Bowser. You also do have the option of playing with your Mii, but personally I figured this was a Mario and Sonic game so why would I want to do that.
Now getting on to the events, since this is the Olympics after all. There is a pretty robust assortment of events to choose between. The track and field events take up a good chunk of the game and include games such as the 100m, triple jump and hammer throw. You can also compete in numerous other events such as table tennis, trampoline and two different swimming games. When you start the game you only have access to certain events, and you can only unlock the other events by winning medals in each of the circuits.
Unlocking the other events in the game brings me to one of my biggest problems I had with this game. Right out of the box you don’t really have access to many of the really fun games. This may not be that big a deal if you plan to play through the circuits and unlock all the games, but my experience with the game was in more of a party atmosphere with a group of people. In that type of setting it would be nice to be able to choose any of the events and play against each other. So you’re probably thinking why don’t you just play through the circuits with everyone and unlock the events, right? Well, unfortunately that’s not the case as you are only able to unlock the other events by playing the game through on the single player. This was a pretty big disappointment for me as I just wanted to be able to play the game with people and I felt like I was only given half a game to start. I’m all for the concept of unlockables and some games do a great job of it, but this was not one of them. So all in all, there is a good deal of games available to you if you put some time into the single player.
So let’s say you do want to play through the single player and unlock everything in the game. Well in order to do that you need to get a medal overall in each of the circuits. There are three classes in circuit play that dictate the difficulty of the events. In each class you have a set of circuits to complete and each circuit has a set list of events you need to complete. As you podium in a circuit the next circuit becomes available and you unlock a new event. I didn’t really think it was too hard to place on the podium in most of the circuits, but there were some individual events that seemed to be extremely hard.
Skeet shooting was by far my least favorite event to play in this game. The controls are not nearly precise enough for that type of gameplay experience and I found it to be extremely frustrating. The goal is to shoot the clay discs out of the air as they fly by, but most of the time they come by way to fast for you to evenhave a chance at shooting them. There were other events that seemed more difficult than they should have been, which seems strange since I thought this game was targeted towards the more casual gamer. A good portion of the events are just a variation of the same set of controls that involve you shaking the controllers really fast and then flicking them up at the precise moment. The variation was enough to give them their own unique feel, but they really begin to get tiresome after a while. The non-track and field events tend to be more varied, and the controls are not overly complicated, but they sometimes can be quite challenging.
This game has its high points and some of the events can be a lot of fun, but that’s really only if you spend the time to unlock them all. I would have liked an option to be able to play everything if I had a group of people, or at least being able to unlock the other events with them. One of my favorite events was the high jump, but you only unlock that after quite a bit of playing the game. Also, if you are going to be playing with a group, be ready to play a long game. Most of the events can take quite awhile to complete since they are mostly one person plays at a time. This coupled with the the fact that many of the events give you three chances, can lead to a long event.
Overall though, if you are a fan of casual minigames then go right ahead and pick this up. You’ll have a great time playing through the different circuits and unlocking all the events. If you are looking for a party game to play with a bunch of people, you can definitely get that experience out of this game, just be prepared to put some work into it. I thought it was an interesting game and although I don’t think its for everyone, the people that do want to play this game will probably love it for the great selection of mini games and recognizable characters. The game looks absolutely beautiful and has that colorful personallity you would want out of a Mario and Sonic game.
