With the Winter Olympics fast approaching it’s time for the old rival companies Nintendo and Sega to reunite for their third game outing together to feature characters from the two respective gaming series’ in the form of Mario & Sonic at the Winter Olympics. The game is the first in the range of various games that are being released to coincide with the upcoming Winter Olympics in Vancouver and will be exclusive to the Wii and Nintendo DS, well after all Nintendo aren’t going to let Sony and Microsoft get their grubby little hands on their prize characters now are they.

For those of you who did not have the pleasure of playing the Summer Olympics game that Nintendo released for the Beijing games this game works in a very similar fashion with you taking control of your chosen character/athlete and competing in various Olympic events in order to obtain as many gold medals as you can. As with the original game there are a large number of various characters to choose from Mario and Sonic themselves through to the likes of Metal Sonic and Bowser, each of the characters has their own strengths and weaknesses and will perform better in certain events over others. Alongside the in game characters your Mii can also take part in the proceedings like the other characters they too will have particular events which they will be better in, this is determined by the shape and size of your Mii so do experiment with a number of different shapes and sizes for your little character.

Taking to the Snow

The game is split in to a number of different play modes, the main one of these being the Olympic festival mode which basically allows you to compete in a Winter Olympic style tournament. As you progress through the tournament you will firstly get to have a practice run at the event before competing for real in the event, although this may be good for the first time round of playing the game it very soon becomes an almost pointless exercise as the controls for each of the events is available at the start of each of them anyway. Alongside the festival mode there is also the option to play in just single events of which you start out with a few in a similar fashion to its predecessor which can be added to by completing the events in the festival mode. As well as being able to play this game in a solo fashion there is also the ability to join up with up to three other players to complete the activities. This adds a whole new element to the game as some of the events require all of the players to match each others movements such as the Team Bobsleigh which requires all the players to turn their Wiimotes in the same direction at the same time.

How to Win Gold

Unlike the Summer Olympics game the controls for this game seem to be more about careful twists and turns of the controllers rather than fast and frantic movements that would have you sweating like you had just run the race yourself. In a way this has made the game much more open to those who can’t keep up with the ravaging demands that the first game would demand of its user, however personally it makes it feel less like a sporting game which is what the first one really showed to me. Now alongside the regular controls the guys at Nintendo have incorporated the use of their wonder product the Wiifit board, despite the fact that I have a large collection of Wii games this “oh so essential” item of the Nintendo Wii has never darkened my door so this is one aspect of the game that I can’t really comment upon, other than the fact that it cannot be used during the festival mode only during the single game mode which seems to defeat the point a bit really.

Do the Graphics Win Gold or Just Bronze?

Graphically the game is very much along the cartoony lines of the Mario and Sonic lines and so provides a very neat look to the game despite the Wii not having the greatest of graphical capabilities. The animation and overall appearance of the game is very fluid with next to no problems or glitches occurring to the look of the game. Once again the weather channel has been employed to provide changing weather conditions from either Vancouver itself or even from where you live, so far though I’ve just kept it set on Vancouver’s weather as I’m afraid that the snow might melt if I change the weather conditions to where I live. A nice feature that has been introduced is the ability to dress your Mii in some much more appropriate attire as winning events in any of the competitions will give you in game money to spend on making your Mii and their equipment a little bit more individual.

The Sound of Victory

As with the graphics there is very little to complain about in this department with the sound effects of such things as wind whistling past you at the top of the large hill, and the sound of snow breaking under your skis helping to add a great atmosphere to the game. Alongside this you are treated to a typical collection of cartoony style background music composition which could have been lifted straight from a Mario or Sonic game.

A Game for the Season or Beyond

Unfortunately unlike the Summer Olympics game personally I can’t see this game really dragging me back more after several months of playing. However for those that do courtesy of the Wii’s internet capabilities it is possible to compare your scores alongside those of other players around the world and I’m sure this will keep many players interested for a long time to come as they try to do the impossible of coming first in the world at an event. As I said earlier with the controls being less demanding the use of this game as a more relaxing social group game can again keep the lifespan of this game going for much longer as well.

Is it a Gold From Me?

Although a nice little addition to my ever increasing collection of Wii games and despite all its good points and fun factor, I’m afraid that this game does not quite stand up to its predecessor. This being said though it is one more game that my girlfriend can actually take part in despite her getting frustrated when she doesn’t win an event. The only other problem that I had with the game is the fact that the practice events during the festival mode just didn’t serve a purpose and just felt like they where there to pad out the game a bit.