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Review: Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games

Posted by JamesC. Filed under James, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii, Review. Tagged with Mario & Sonic, Mario and Sonic, olympics, sega.

Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games, the most recent party game to hit the Nintendo Wii, tries very hard to add something new to the genre and in a lot of ways succeeds. Developed by Sega, in partnership with Nintendo, the game is surprisingly (at least to this reviewer) fun.

Shining with a good amount of polish, M & S offers up some high production values to get people interested, and to keep events engaging it employs a really challenging curve towards the latter events. All these elements keep things feeling competitive and fresh throughout nearly the entire game.

I say nearly because in some cases the game comes up just short- somewhat in the same way a fat Italian plumber would if he ever actually tried the long-jump. But ignoring a few faults and looking to where the game really excels, you could end up having a lot of fun for a very long time with this addictive game.

Let’s touch on the basics for a moment. M & S is what it sounds like, 16 playable characters from the Sonic and Mario franchises competing head-to-head at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In addition to the playable mascots, there are the myriad cameos by lesser characters to get people pumped.

These include the Toad people, Koopas, and Boo from Nintendo, and from SEGA we see the monkey robots from classic Sonic games, Charmy the Bee, and others. Having all these characters together may be enough for fans of the franchises, but what about those of you who don’t care about all this fan-service? There’s something for you here as well (giving you the ability to use your Mii to represent you in the Games).

Mario and Sonic consists of 24 different events employing about 16 or so game mechanics. Each event belongs to its own class, or classification. These include athletics, gymnastics, shooting, archery, fencing, aquatics, table tennis, rowing and dream events.

From the start you have the options of playing a single match, a circuit of events, or character specific missions. In addition to the Olympic style mini-games you can choose to enter the game’s gallery and choose from five other games, ranging from card games to Whack-a-Mole. The gallery ends up being good fun, as you play to unlock bonus background music from classic Mario and Sonic games.

As far as the main events go, there’s a lot of depth here. If you’re worrying that you’re going to spend hours with your friends, desperately and mindlessly waggling the Wii remote then you can put your worries to rest. The game is much more skill-based than previous Wii party games. Each event has it’s own gimmick, so to speak, which will give you the edge on your opponents if you can master it.

For example, in swimming events, in order to get a great dash off of the line you’re required to charge yourself at the starting line by pressing the B button. You then stand there charging, anticipating the gunshot. When it sounds, you need to thrust the remote upwards and release the B button for a massive burst of off-the-line speed. Further along in the race, as you approach the end of the pool you want to get a good rebound off of the pool wall. In this case an icon will appear indicating which movement you’ll need to act out at just the right moment. The game is about timing and technique, really, and this is where the developers found their mark. The way it has the ability to get your pulse going as you struggle to get that perfect starting boost, or relay hand-off, or archery bull’s eye, etc.

Another great event that showcases how this game is distinguishing itself from the party-game pack is the previously mentioned archery. We’ve seen in other games how archery is done, most usually by drawing back the remote while holding the A button, then releasing A when you’re ready to shoot. M & S adds a bit of refinement and finesse. In order to line up your shot, you hold both the nunchuck and remote towards the screen as if you were holding a physical bow and arrow.You then press A and draw the remote backwards like a bowstring. On screen there are two cursors, one for where the arrow is aiming and one for where you’re holding the nunchuck. The two coordinate to dictate the angle at which you’re holding the “bow and arrow”, and you need to adjust both the remote and nunchuck cursors on screen to get a bull’s eye. Line them up on top of one another and they’ll start glowing and shining to indicate you’ve got the right angle. Calculate windspeed and direction as best you can and let the arrow fly. It’s surprisingly difficult, immense fun, and a great way to spice up what could’ve otherwise been a point and shoot snoozer.

That’s not to say that every single event is a compelling one. Running, for instance, always feels the same, whether it’s the 100m, 400m, and 400m Relay, you’ll only be drumming the remote and nunchuck to run as fast as you can. Running is running, sure, but it couldn’t have hurt to try adding a little something to each event to make it a bit more unique.

As stated, for each uninspired event (of which there are only a few) there’s a number of events to bring you right back into it. Dream Events are something SEGA came up with to add variety to the game, and what we end up getting are MarioKart style footraces with Sonic speed-pads and question mark item boxes, table tennis with power smashes, and fencing with super attacks. The Dream Events turn the straightforward competitions into more outrageous, powered-up versions and add a generally interesting spin on things.

Another noteworthy addition to the game is the Mission mode. In this mode, each character is given six specific tasks to accomplish, such as shooting specific targets in skeet shooting, or throw a perfectly centered toss in the hammer-throw. Often the game will pit you against outrageously difficult opponents, making you really work for the gold. This just adds to the replayability, though, especially when you check the online leaderboards and see that some jerk from Nicaragua finished with ease.

Finally there’s multi-player. Online multiplayer is not included in this game, and it’s a shame, because it’s a game that would’ve benefited from the inclusion of direct competition so greatly. The most you get as far as online modes is the world ranking system, which displays everyone’s top scores from around the world. SEGA included a record display at the bottom of the screen as you play through each event, so it helps to add an element of greater competition without actually putting you up against other players. It works to keep you updated on how other people are doing in each and every event, but it’s just not the same as direct competition, and that’s too bad.

The game supports 1-4 players in multiplayer mode and this inclusion adds a good amount of fun to what would’ve otherwise been a huge multiplayer disappointment. In events such as the relay race, you are given a position on the track and it’s up to each player to hand-off the baton and continue the race. In other events, the multiplayer is played with a cumulative ranking system, where each persons score is tallied to give a final ranking against the competition. There is naturally a head-to-head option as well, rounding out the multiplayer experience nicely.

In the end, Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games offers up a fairly deep and rewarding level of gameplay. The varied amount of modes of play, coupled with the unlockable bonus content, and the inclusion of so many characters to choose from, makes the game really shine. It can be a little repetitive at times, but with the amount of things this game does right, those humdrum moments can be overlooked pretty easily.

The game’s accessible with its learning curve, yet more advanced players will find a challenge as they get progressively further into the game, and that’ll keep everyone coming back for more. SEGA has made an addictive party-game, and one that helps to push the genre into a more refined direction. While more features, such as online play and a greater depth of missions and events, could’ve helped this game get the gold, Mario and Sonic easily score themselves a big, shiny, silver medal.

Numeric score: 8/10