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[Ike-Mike]

A Vast Improvement In Gameplay

On March 28th 2007, Sega announced a Wii project that shocked many: a game where both Mario and Sonic characters are competing against each other ... in the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing. Many people were positively surprised since the 90s' biggest videogame mascots got together for the very first time. But as more screenshots and gameplay videos have been shown, fanboys started to get angrier and angrier that Mario, the fat plumber from Brooklyn, could very well keep up with 'the fastest thing alive'. Even if everyone can keep up with Sonic, if the game is compared to other Olympics themed games, it is a very refreshing improvement from them.

Story: not avaivable/10
Are you really expecting from a sports game to have a story?

Gameplay: 8/10

In 1983, Konami released a game called Track and Field. The game was a first in which you have been competing in six different Olympic events. The game was revolutionary for its time for introducing the gameplay of tapping one or more buttons repeatedly to get the first place. That type of gameplay has been used since then in about every Olympics themed game. Games with that "press buttons 1 and 2 repeatedly" gameplay are selling less and less, but they have its small fanbase. Now with the Wii, which is bringing gaming back to everyone, has managed to improve Olympics games to something easier to pick up and play.



While "push button 1 and 2 repeatedly" seems to be the same as "swing your Wiimote and Nunchuck repeatedly" it feels more intuitive and feeling exhausted is much better than feeling your fingers hurt.
Not to mention that all the sports that have been a chore before are very intuitive now. Swinging the remote instead of hurting your palm with turning the analog stick in hammer throw, putting your wiimote up instead of pressing and holding a jump button for the right angle in long jump feel so much more intuitive and fun to play now. And do not get me started with Skeet Shooting. In Athens 2004, Skeet Shooting was the lamest event of them all: You could only steer your gun to the left or right on a set path and you had to shoot skeets that flew very fast, so you've been having almost no chance hitting them. Now you can point where to shoot with your Wiimote, so it is easier and much more entertaining now.



The game also has replay value: Olympic themed games in the past were pretty much only there to invite your friends to play the 'game to the most recent Olympic games' for an hour or so and that is all. With Mario and Sonic, there are Mission Modes, where you have to complete certain tasks for certain events with every character, as well as unlockable events and badges as collectibles by doing certain tasks, such as doing a succesful start in 100m Dash, breaking the world record or even accessing the Wi-Fi scoreboards.

The game also has difficulty settings. In other Olympics themed games you almost always ended up last to next-to-last and we all know how frustrating that is, so this game lets you end up at the top 3 for once.

Graphics: 5/10

Nothing that goes beyond a Gamecube game. Looking at screenshots from earlier versions though, the characters seemed to have even less polygons, so I guess you should feel happy about how the game looks like right now.



Sound: 5/10

The music is done with crappy MIDI instruments and I mean really crappy ones. The unmemorable music keeps you pumped for the events though.
The german announcer, who is this one, is one who I personally do not like. It's funny to hear him say names of Mario and Sonic characters though.
And I need to mention that I am really wondering how a Saturday morning cartoon such as Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog had much better voice actors than ... a Saturday morning anime dubbed by a Saturday morning cartoon company.

Miscellaineous: 5/10

The game has a Gallery option in which you answer trivia questions about the Olympics by playing mini-games. Seeing as Mario and Sonic is an official Olympics game, the trivia section is a nice addition.
And Wi-Fi is used for ... leaderboards? Couldn't they have used WiiConnect24 for that?
Miis got included into the game in a nice way too: They are the average character, so they have no disadvantages or advantages. It's funny to look at yourself winning all the various events as well.





Gameplay-wise, Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games is a big improvement over all the conventional Olympic themed games and I'm sure it will bring people back to the genre as well. If 'the conventional Olympics game that gets released next year' Sega has been talking about will use the same controls and improve at the other points then I really love where the genre is going.

Final Score: 6/10