Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Review for the Nintendo DS (NDS)

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games box art

System: Wii, DS	Review Rating Legend
Dev: SEGA	1.0 - 1.9 = Avoid	4.0 - 4.4 = Great
Pub: SEGA	2.0 - 2.4 = Poor	4.5 - 4.9 = Must Buy
Release: Jan. 22, 2007	2.5 - 2.9 = Average	5.0 = The Best
Players: 1-4	3.0 - 3.4 = Fair
ESRB Rating: Everyone	3.5 - 3.9 = Good

What's that, you ask? Well, Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games has a fairly interesting -- though not overwhelming -- multiplayer mode, both locally and online. All of the events can be played with a friend or three, and playing against live human opponents is infinitely more fun than playing against computers.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games screenshot

The game sports download play, which is nice. Unfortunately, not all events are available via download play -- you'll need to find friends with their own copy of the game to play the full-fledged game multiplayer. The games are easy enough to pick up and play, and friends who've never even heard about the game can still have fun playing multiplayer with you. And while there's no actual online competition via the Nintendo WiFi Connection, you can send your event data to the online servers and see how you stack up against the best Olympians around the world. It's not as neat a feature as full-fledged online competition, which would have really been awesome considering the game's Olympic theme, but at least it's something, and the online leader board actually works quite well for this type of game.

Graphically, Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games does not fail to impress. It's one of the nicer looking games on the system, and it's particularly impressive how smooth and crisp the game is when you take into account that this game is, after all, running on a fairly weak handheld system. The music is another story, however -- it's pretty standard video game music, if you know what I mean. That is to say, it's boring, forgettable, and doesn't much contribute to the overall quality of the game. Tell me, whatever happened to Fire Emblem-caliber music in a video game?!

Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games does suffer from a few significant flaws, however. First off is one that may seem petty until you've actually played the game: this title takes a real toll on the well-being of your DS. Seriously. It's worse than Elite Beat Agents, actually (which had you tapping, rubbing, and spinning constantly), because most of the events are just going to have you rub the DS as fast as you can. I'm the type of person who cringes to think that my 130 dollar investment is being destroyed as I try to have fun, so this is a significant issue for me. Secondly is the fact that this title just isn't all that exciting, because a nearly identical version was released a few months ago. Sure, it's different from the Wii version, but really only in terms of the controls. I personally would have really liked some fleshed-out DS-specific content rather than the sort of filler that the DS version got as it's "exclusives," but there was no such luck.

If you're the type of person who loves to play mini-games, particularly enjoyed the first Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games, or are a casual gamer who's looking for a fun, albeit easy and short-lived title, then you should definitely consider picking up a copy of Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games. If you don't meet any of those criteria, however, then you may want to pass on this title and instead look for another game to spend your cash on -- might I suggest the new Advance Wars?

By Joseph Catalanotto
CCC Freelance Writer

RATING OUT OF 5

RATING DESCRIPTION

4.7

Graphics
Wow! For a DS game, this title is top-notch. There are few games out there with better 3D visuals than Mario and Sonic.

3.1

Control
They work pretty well and make sense for the games, but the fact that they also tear up your touch screen is really annoying.

3.0

Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
Nothing bad but nothing particularly good, as seems to be the trend these days.

3.2

Play Value
Missions and online rankings definitely help, but once you've exhausted the title's possibilities, you likely won't come back to it.

3.4

Overall Rating - Fair
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.

Game Features:

Four unique playing styles. The competition takes on a new dimension with the special strengths and abilities of each character. For example: Sonic and Yoshi (Speed), Mario and Amy (All-around), Peach and Tails (Technical), Bowser and Knuckles (Power).

Three game modes: In Single Match mode, players can try out each event individually, or compete for the highest overall score across multiple events in Circuit mode. In Mission mode, there are challenges created specifically for each character.

Multiplayer challenges for four players. Players can join in the fun simultaneously via the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection on the DS.

Exclusive unlockable events. Familiar items from the worlds of Mario and Sonic enhance exclusive events for the DS, including Dream Basketball, Dream Boxing, Dream Cycling, and more.

Enhanced Touch Screen controls. Players can get their favorite character from Team Mario or Team Sonic to run faster, jump higher, and compete like true champions with intuitive Touch Screen controls.