Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (Wii)

Gamecow’s Price	RRP $99.95     Save $40.00 $59.95
Availability
Genre	Sports
Platform	Nintendo Wii
Release Date	15/10/2009
Rated

Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (Wii) Product Information

MARIO AND SONIC HEAD TO THE SLOPES!

Choose from your favourite cast of characters, including a few new faces, and get ready for exciting ice and snow action in Vancouver and Whistler, which are hosting the 2010 Winter Games. Warm up those muscles, get your balance board ready, and go for gold on the Wii and Nintendo DS!

Prepare to compete in the Olympic Winter Games with your friends and family! A variety of Dream Events offer surprising objects and new character-specific moves. Sharpen your team-playing skills with new simultaneous cooperative play on the Wii, and get your fill of head-to-head rivalry in the popular competitive events on the Wii or Nintendo DS.

Choose your favourite Mario and Sonic characters:
Play as your favourite characters from the world of Mario and Sonic, including Luigi, Tails, Yoshi, Knuckles, Peach and Amy, each with unique movements and stats. A few new faces, like Donkey Kong, Metal Sonic, Bowser Jr., and Silver, have also been added to the mix!

Easy to use controls:

- Simulate real-life movements using intuitive controls on the Wii Remote/Nunchuk and Wii Balance Board. Skate, ski and snowboard your way to glory, with single and multi-player (competitive and cooperative mode) offering fun for players of all ages and skill levels!

Multiple gameplay modes on both Wii & Nintendo DS:

- Compete in single events in the individual mode and team mode, or challenge your friends to an entire Olympic competition! A new Wii-exclusive “Festival Mode” also allows you to experience the full competitive Olympic campaign (single and multi-player). This includes new “Boss” competitions against unique Mario and Sonic characters.

Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (Wii) Review

The winter Olympics are over 3 months away and in Australia, with summer slowly approaching, the snow covered mountains of Vancouver are probably not a big talking point amongst Aussies at the moment. Well that’s about to change as Mario, Sonic and their respective crews return to the Olympics. This time it's on the legendary slopes of Whistler. Yep, you guessed it; it’s Mario & Sonic At The Olympic Winter Games on the Nintendo Wii.

The first thing you will notice in this title is the just how excellent the lengthy introduction is. It features scenes with the key Sega and Nintendo characters competing in various winter sports, with the usual slapstick humour of course. The intro is colourful, smooth and crystal clear and does its job in getting you excited about what lies ahead. Here’s hoping it’s not all ’downhill’ from here. As the game is an IOC licensed product you’ll find all the official logos, graphics, mascots, as well as stadiums and venues are used throughout the game.

Most games modes in Mario & Sonic At The Olympic Winter Games cater for one to four players, including the main mode “Festival”, the “Single Event” mode and obviously the “Party Games”, so having a few people around is ideal. There is a comprehensive training mode with detailed explanations of events, gameplay movies and control demonstrations. You should be more than ready to hit the slopes after completing training.

Speaking of events you’ve pretty much got your standard Winter Olympic fare. On the slopes you can ski (downhill, slalom, freestyle), snowboard (half-pipe, snowboard cross) or tackle ski jumping. The ice rink offers speed and figure skating, curling and ice hockey. You can also attempt some Bobsleigh and Skeleton. Admittedly the ice hockey is no NHL and the snowboarding is no Shaun White but provides adequate mini-game representations of the sports; obviously if you are fans of either Shaun White or NHL you will definitely feel underwhelmed by the Mario and Sonic versions. However the hockey is still not bad for replay value and provides a few laughs with more than one player.

Mario & Sonic At The Olympic Winter Games is generally more of the same from the previous edition with a few new novelties thrown in. There actually seems to be twice as much to do in this game compared with the last, but is it twice as enjoyable? Not really. The gameplay is not all that enthralling and the controls are rudimentary most of the time. This title attempts to be a “jack of all trades” and ends up being a master of none; there are a lot of things to do but in isolation they all seem to be fairly plain; there is nothing that really stands out. The addition of Dream Events, character and equipment customization and the inclusion of Balance Board controls does liven things up, however like the mini-games included there is no hiding the fact that this game feels like it’s “been there, done that”. That’s not to say it isn’t worth trying out if you are a fan of the series and it is still a fun, family oriented entertainer.

Full review MYWII