Mario & Sonic At The Olympic Winter Games Review

After successfully teaming up to tackle the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, it was only natural that Sonic and Mario would do so once again, this time for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver. This officially licenced game sees characters from both of the franchises tackle Olympic sports, as well as a few slightly more original ones, in the most prestigious Winter Sports competition on the planet.

There are a total of nine Olympic events which can be played in the game and there is quite a lot of variety between them. Obviously there are the stereotypical skiing events, but Ice Hockey and Figure Skating are also present. A few of the events also have different disciplines, which helps to add even more events. For example, the Bobsleigh event can also be performed solo, using the Skeleton and the Speed Skating events can be performed as a relay.

To compliment the traditional events, there are also Dream Events. These display a lot more creative licence and are actually a lot of fun to play. Some of them offer modifications of the Olympic events, while others are completely different, like Snow Ball Fighting. They are much more relaxed and will probably appeal a lot more to fans of the individual franchises due to the references that can be found within. For example, the Dream Figure Skating competition that takes place in the Sonic World is a tribute to Sonic Adventure. It features arranged music from the game, and even has a simulated boss battle against Chaos.

The crux of the game is Festival Mode, which sees players take part in a 17 day event with the ultimate goal of attaining the most points. Each day, players will have to take part in 2-3 events which can either be based around learning a new event, competing for an Olympic medal, or winning a Dream Event. There are also some Rival challenges in there too, which sees the player square off against someone like King Boo. It's a pretty decent mode, although it's not overly engaging. It mainly serves as a strong introduction to the majority of the events found within the game.

While there may be a plethora of events to play, not all of them are overly enjoyable due to the controls. In some events, the controls work really well, but in others they are just sticky and awkward. The majority of them revolve around holding the Wii Remote in certain positions, but it doesn't necessarily seem to translate that well to the on-screen action. In some events, like Skiing, it works to a point, but sometimes the commands will be missed and it takes a while to recover. When jumping is added to the equation, it just makes things worse as a long jump, if it actually works, may leave players needing to make a sharp turn that just isn't possible.