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Nintendo and Sega’s flagship mascots are back as bedfellows once more to cash in on another sporting tie in, with Mario & Sonic at the Winter Olympic Games. Just like the original Olympics version two years ago, it’s filled with mini games riffing on the events lined up for Vancouver next year, only injected with a dash of Sega madness. But is it a frantic pro party game or just a tired, flailing rehash? Read on and find out in our full Mario & Sonic at the Winter Olympic Games review.
You can probably guess from the title and the platform just how Mario & Sonic at the Winter Olympic Games works: you play as one of either Mario or Sonic’s gang in waggly mini games in a bid to unlock extra goodies. There are 27 events in total, featuring everything from skiing and boarding to curling and speed skating, so you’ll rack up plenty of play time trying to sort the wheat from the chaff – and there certainly is both.
If you’ve never played any athletic video game before, you’ll enjoy the race events, which usually see you prepping a run up, hitting A at the right them, then twisting with the Wii remote to steer you through flags or down the chute in the fastest time. Frivolous, and fun. But speed skating feels like every Track & Field alike that’s come before it, with you rhythmically putting one blade in front of the other in a bid to get round the track quickest. Far more addictive are the Dream events, which see Sega and Nintendo style elements thrown in. The snowboarding race has both Sonic-style loop the loops and red shells – talk about crossover – and is by far the most exciting event in the whole game.
Read our Wii Sports Resort review now
Unfortunately, getting to the Dream events in Mario & Sonic at the Winter Olympic Games is a dreary process. You’ll have to play through the regular sports, all of which seem to involve tilting, shaking and nothing more, have some boss races in single player which fail to match the decade old Diddy Kong Racing for excitement, and then unlock them. It’s not like many of the winter games haven’t been done before on the Wii either, with games such as SSX Blur and Shawn White Snowboarding showing how downhill racing can be done with Ninty’s console.
Graphically, Mario & Sonic at the Winter Olympic Games doesn’t push the Wii to the limits, but it’s easy enough on the eye. Ultimately though, anyone who can name another Nintendo machine beyond the Wii won’t find any surprises here. With four people crammed into the living room, it’ll pass away a wet afternoon, but Mario & Sonic at the Winter Olympic Games won’t keep anyone coming back after that like Wii Sports Resort will.
