Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Review

Written by: Darren Cartledge Posted: 19th February 2008

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Mario & Sonic head to the DS to compete in at the Olympics.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Details:

Goto Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Game Page

	Sports
	Nintendo DS
	SEGA
	SEGA

Out Now

N/A

After a successful stint on the Wii, Mario and Sonic are teaming up once more and heading off to Beijing, this time to compete at the Olympics on the DS.

The DS version of Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games features three main modes of play, Single Match, Circuit and Mission Play. Single match allows you to compete in any of the 24 events included in the game, although some need to be unlocked first by taking part in the Circuit events before being available in this mode.

The games circuit mode features three classes, beginner, advanced and master. These are made up of between three and five events depending on which class you’re playing in. It’s pretty easy to progress through the circuit classes as you don’t have to win a circuit before you unlock new ones!

The games mission mode places you in events, in which you must complete a set objective! This could be finishing a race in a specific place or by beating an opponent in a certain way, for instance winning a game of table tennis by scoring all your points from smashes.

Events themselves offer a good variation including a mix of track and field, shooting, table tennis and cycling to name but a few. The majority of events make good use of the touch screen with only a few requiring the use of the buttons. Also to complement the standard Olympic Games you can unlock a number of Dream events in which you can power up a meter that allows you to pull off special moves to give you a big advantage.

Characters are all from the world of Mario and Sonic with appearances from Dr. Eggman, Knuckles, Shadow, Wario, Bowser and Waluigi. Each character is placed in to four different categories, Power, Speed, Skill and all-rounder. Speed type characters are more suited to race based events such as 100m and cycling, whereas skill characters give you the edge when competing in shooting and gymnastic events and finally power types have the advantage in field events such as the hammer and javelin. All-rounder, as the name suggests give you a balanced character that can compete in all events.

This character selection system is fine when competing in a single event, however when taking part in a circuit with a mix of events you can find yourself at a slight disadvantage so the game includes a “circuit chance” feature that bumps your score up at the end of the event you selected to use it in.

Most of the events in the game are pretty easy to get to grips with, however some will offer quite a good challenge. Especially those unlocked on the advanced and master classes, I found the gymnastic vault especially tricky to get the hang of as you are required to trace a pattern with number points going from the lowest to highest, but the speed at which they appear and disappear makes this a lot trickier then it sounds. A lot of the games make use of the same controls so you will often find yourself frantically scribbling on the touch screen which can seem a little repetitive at times, but thankfully the game does offer enough variation to compensate.

To complement the games main mode is the gallery. Here you are able to play a series of mini games that on successful completion unlock Olympic trivia and facts about the games. It’s a nice little addition and while the games are simple and basic such as matching card types or guiding an airship to collect rings they are strangely addictive.

Multiplayer wise, the game allows up to fours players to compete against each other. If playing via download play with one game card you are limited to playing in one of six events however with multiple game cards you can compete in custom circuits and any of the games events.

As you would expect from any Mario or Sonic game graphics are of a high standard, some of the environments are a little plain, especially when compared to some others included in the game. Sound is a little limited but what there is, is all very good with characters giving cheers when they win, and moans and groans when they lose with voices we will all recognise from their respected games.

This handheld version of Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games has made a pretty successful transition from the big console and it’s nice to see a sports game make good use of the DS’s capabilities. The single player version of the game offers enough variation that you should stay addicted for some time while the multiplayer mode only adds to its lasting appeal. All in all the game deserves its own gold medal!