Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Wii)

A 5.0 from the Russian judge.
1/30/2008 12:00 AM | 0 Comments | Page 1 of 2

Another day, another collection of mini-games for the Wii. This one is Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, a sports-themed party game honoring the Summer Games taking place this year in Beijing. If you put aside your curiosity at just how Sega and Nintendo decided which character got top billing (alphabetically? age before beauty? arm wrestling?) and focus on the game itself, you'll find an ample selection of sports events, more than a little Nunchuk-shaking and Wii remote waggling, and lots and lots of loading screens.

The mini-games of Mario & Sonic are much like those found in Wii Sports, but instead of bowling and tennis you get more Olympic-minded events like the hammer throw, hurdles, triple jump and pole vault. There's even some trampoline thrown in for good measure, but sadly, rhythm gymnastics seems to be missing. Pity. I was looking forward to twirling that ribbon with wild abandon.

Combining the worlds of Mario and Sonic yields an extensive, if somewhat bizarre, cast of Olympic hopefuls from which to choose. Besides the obvious plumber and hedgehog, you can play as Princess Peach, Yoshi, Tails, Knuckles, Wario and Shadow, to name a few. The characters are divided into different types -- Skill, Speed, Power and All-Around -- to theoretically make certain events easier, but you can also compete using your Mii. Seeing yourself running alongside Bowser or handing the baton off to Robotnik (sorry, I refuse to call him Eggman) in a relay is delightfully surreal.

Despite the fact that many of the events have the same basic goal -- a race is a race whether it's in a boat or on your feet -- the control schemes are varied enough to prevent them from becoming too repetitious. Your controls for the swimming events, for example, depend on which character you're using, and the basic footraces, hurdles and relays on the track all control differently.

Most of the games use some combination of the Wii remote and Nunchuk, usually shaking them back and forth as quickly as possible (forget Wii Fit, Mario & Sonic really gets your heart pumping), but you'll need more than just muscle to succeed. Events like the javelin throw and the long jump require precision timing for best results, especially in the more difficult circuits. Mario & Sonic does an excellent job of explaining the goal of each event and how its particular control scheme works, but if you know what's going on you can opt to jump right into the competition.

The game is divided into different circuits that each host a handful of different events. Participants are awarded points based on their performance in each event, with the top three point-earners climbing the podium to collect bronze, silver and gold medals at the end of the circuit. You're allowed to accept a challenge once during each circuit; if you place in the top three, you earn double the points, but if you don't, you get no points at all. If, for example, you know that you're lousy at the epee but fantastic at ping-pong, you can use the challenge to keep your competition from shoving you out of range for medal contention. Play through all of the circuits in a given difficulty level and you'll unlock the Dream Circuit, which offers more unusual events, like a race through an obstacle course.