Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games Review
By - Richard J.
For the past week and a half, I've been slaving away at Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games for a review. I had high hopes for this game, but I of course was disappointed in the end. Although, to this games credit, it was only until I delved deep into the features that I started to dislike this game. At it's most basic layer, Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter games is actually quite enjoyable.
I'll start off with the high points of Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games. Surprisingly, the game offers a great sense of realism. Even though the graphics are very cartoony, you get a true sense of speed from the skiing, snowboarding, and sledding events. The hockey and curling events are also very realistic.
The characters in the game make up for a quite a bit of the value. Just like the first Mario and Sonic game, you get most of the classic characters from the Mario and Sonic universes. And no Big the Cat! What's also great is that they use all of the current voice actors for the characters. It may not seem like a big deal to many people, but for me, hearing the voices really brings me into the game.
The Wii Remote and Nun-chuck controls are also done quite well. I've heard of some people who are unsatisfied with the controls (Checkmate Arcade), but I was actually quite impressed with them. The controls aim to be easy to use and accessible. The games controls should not be compared to most other games, as it is not trying to be great. They achieve the goal they have aimed for.
A little cool addition to the game is the use of the Forecast Channel. During the Olympics, you could load up your forecast channel, and it would change the whether in the game to match the current whether in Vancouver.
Finally, as I've said before, this game thrives on its accessibility. This game is great for a quick pick-up and play with friends and family. The game is incredibly easy in most events. Experienced gamers can get a gold medal on their first tries for most events, and novice or beginning gamers can achieve a gold medal within two or three tries. As most people have probably assumed, this isn't a game you will spend hours playing by yourself. However, I can easily see people sinking hours into this with family on a family game night or something similar.
Now unfortunately, it's time to talk about the not so great aspects of Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games.
When I first began playing Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, one thing stood out for me. When you go through all the menus, you realize that it looks exactly like Mario Party, except with no where near as many games as Mario Party. The menus for looking at the rules and controls for the events, the over simplicity of the events, the training; it all reminds me of Mario Party.
If you are someone who likes to try many different characters when playing this sort of game, you may be disappointed at the character animation. All of the characters act exactly the same for most of their movements. It feels like every character is just a skin. The only thing that differentiates them is their Special Actions. These are initiated by pushing the "A" button and give your character a boost of speed, while they do a dance-like movement. They are a nice addition to the game, but other than that, the characters animation is quite disappointing.
After each event, you are award points which you can use to "shop" with in the Olympic Village. I thought that this would be a very cool feature, but it unfortunately falls on it's face. When you enter the village to shop, you unfortunately do not get to walk around. You instead just point the Wii Remote at the stores, very similar to a point and click adventure, to enter the stores. What makes it worse is that you can see the in-game characters walking through the village while check out the stores. This wouldn't have been very hard for SEGA to add in their development, so it's quite disappointing that they took the easy way out.
Once you actually start shopping, you realize that it is completely pointless. All of the stuff available for purchase doesn't make a change to the core gameplay. It's just a failed excuse to try to add extra value to the game. The stores are:
The Music Store - You can buy the in game tracks to listen to in the figure skating events.
The Sports Store - You can buy customization options for your equipment like decals and banners.
The Boutique - You can buy clothes here.
The Library - Sells Olympic information and trivia.
When I was playing, I also noticed some really terrible load times. Most Wii games slide through load times really fast, but for Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, it was so bad that I was texting during them. This isn't bad compared to some 360 and PS3 games, but for a Wii game, it is unacceptable.
Finally, the biggest disappointment of Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games; the use of the Wii Balance Board. When I saw this game at the store, I saw that it had Balance Board support and got really excited. Due to me playing this mainly for review, I waited until the end to try the Balance Board feature as I wanted to get the "boring controls" out of the way.
The worst part of the Balance Board support is how stiff it is. If you've played the Skiing and Snowboarding in Wii Fit, you know how if you lean too far, your character goes of course. Well in Mario and Sonic at the Winter Olympic Games, you have to lean far just to do a proper turn. Leaning just a little bit will cause you to go into a very slight turn that just ends up going straight. This is extremely frustrating as you are almost falling off of the board just to turn. When I was doing the skeleton event with the Balance Board, I did much better when I just stood still on the board and allowed for the game to go by itself. That is bad game design.
To sum up Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, this is a very good Wii multiplayer game at it's most basic layer, but playing by yourself, or delving deeper into the features will leave you with a sour taste in your mouth. I cannot recommend this game to most people. At least it isn't a full price release...
Pros
- Great, accessible multiplayer
- The characters you know and love, with their classic voice-overs
- Surprising sense of realism
- Wii Remote controls are good
Cons
- Character animations feel like only a changeable skin
- Shopping is a failed attempt at adding value to a short game
- Terrible load times
- Wii Balance Board support is complete garbage
RATING: 6.0/10