Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games (Wii) > Reviews (4)

My two children thoroughly enjoyed Mario & Sonic at the Olympics and at the Winter Olympics (as did the adults in my family too!) so it was a natural progression to check out the London 12 Olympic Games on the Wii.

All of the characters are there from the first two games so there is plenty of choice when it comes to who you want to represent you in the games. Each character has differing abilities in terms of speed, strength and skill so this suggests that there are some tactics involved, depending on which of the events you are entering. However, it never really seems to make much difference who you choose, it seems to come down pretty much 100% to how well you control the character through the wii remote so even if you chose a character who has supposedly good speed for sprinting you don't seem to have any discernible advantage over someone else who has picked a strength character so this is a slightly disappointing aspect, unless we are missing something!

There are over 30 different events to choose from ranging from Cycling, Shooting, Athletics (which incorporates amongst others, gymnastics, discus, hammer, and different running events such as hurdles, long jump and sprinting etc.), Aquatics,Fencing, Beach Volleyball, Football, , Canoeing, Badminton, Table Tennis, Track Cycling and one of my personal favourites, Show Jumping.

You can play single matches or you can have a London Party where four players can compete and you are rewarded with stickers to fill up a sticker sheet which is a fantastic idea as most kids like the idea of collecting stickers and seeing the accomplishment of filling a sheet keeps them going back to the game perhaps longer than it ordinarily would. The party mode can take a long time to complete so there is an option to quick save the data which is great as it stops moans and groans when their time is up or they need to do homework or eat dinner.

There are some unlockables and bonus modes too. In fact there is a lot within this game to keep them interested so as long as they enjoy the sports and don’t get too frustrated by the lack of control in some instances, then there is quite good longevity in this game although with so many other games to play, I don’t think it is one that will be played for years once the Games have been and past.

Some of the games are more enjoyable than others and some are obviously easier to master but that being said there should be an event or two that your children particularly enjoy or are particularly good at which is always good to save upset. It is also good to have some slightly more challenging events as this gives the game a little more longevity too. I have not played this game much myself but I do know that my daughter really enjoys the gymnastics which is a lot of fun and not too difficult to master whilst games such as football, fencing and table tennis aren’t so entertaining as they are more difficult because the control via the wii remote doesn’t seem to correspond very well to what you want your character to do on screen (or maybe this is just our excuse).

Perhaps there is a knack to it that we have not as yet mastered in all the games.

Like the other two variants before it, there are also dream events whereby the games are to my mind much more erratic and 'busy' and I find it harder in these games to ascertain exactly what’s happening but my children seem to prefer the dream events to the ordinary ones so it keeps them happy.

The graphics are very good as are the sound events and music etc and the game is very upbeat and colourful which is appealing to children. Records of the players’ achievements are kept so you can keep track of what medals you have won and what items you have collected etc. which the children like as they like to see who is ahead and who is behind.

This games can be bought from £25 up and I do think if your child or children enjoyed the previous two Olympic games, then they are bound to enjoy this.

Thanks for reading. x