This piece of the Olympics is energetic and fun to play - for two months.
(-) other events like pole vault and triple jump are downright stupid; the game will get old after about two months of playing; uses Wi-fi connection but only to view records instead of actually playing online
The story of the Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games is giving two long-time competing popular video game mascots to meet the first time in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, an event full of fun and excitement for the whole family of people of every race, color, religion, and ethnic background. Everybody thought this was the perfect place for Mario and Sonic to meet. And it turns out it was, but only for a little while.
The gameplay is pretty much a mixed bag of mini-games which make use of the Wii-remote and sometimes the nun-chuck, even though only a few events require the nun-chuck. You have Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, Vector, and Blaze from Sonic's side, and Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Yoshi, Wario, Waluigi, and Bowser to pick from the Mario side. I agree that this is a pretty wide spectrum of characters to choose from especially for just one game.
I stress again that the events are a mixed bag, some of them are good while others miss the mark. I enjoyed the trampoline jump, which all you have to do is jot the remote and mash buttons and twist the remote. I also like 100m and 100m hurdles, which are both running events which require aggressively shaking the remote but with hurdles you press a button to jump over obstacles in the way. Hamer throw was also pretty initiative, just swinging the remote round and round to throw a metal hammer, and releasing to try and reach the furthest distance. There are also dream events, like Dream Race which is pretty much a simulation of Mario Kart where you run to the goal on rails and avoid obstacles while using weapons on other racers.
But there were also a fair share of poor events. One I particularly hated was pole vault, which has you rapidly waggling the remote to try and climb over a pole without falling. As you adjust the height of the pole to try and outsmart opponents, you throw yourself off. And if on two player and 1 player loses, 2 player doesn't even get a chance to do better. I found that weird. Another event I disliked was double jump and triple jump. Especially with triple jump, it is very difficult and frustrating to figure out just how hard you need to whack the remote to get the perfect distance. Maybe that promises challenge, but that also keeps this game from being enjoyable. It's all based on chance. And perhaps worst of all was archery. This game requires you to align the nun-chuck onto the target, and shoot the remote right through the middle. But you also need to consider which way the wind blows. You also have to bear through four rounds of this, which consumes a lot of your time. The rules of the game are far too complicated to find any enjoyment.
Another thing I particularly disliked was the lack of diversity in the random circuit. I don't understand why you can't choose between a random 4 circuit and 8 circuit, because most of what I call the good events are in the 4 circuit, but most the time the game sets you up for the 8 circuit which has most of the frustrating events. That would have helped the replay value a good bit.
The graphics aren't very complex, but the characters and environments are bright and colorful and turn out looking pretty fresh and crisp. However, some of the character models were poorly represented. Take Daisy for example. Her eyes are wrinkled and she looks a lot older and uglier than she actually is. I compared her with her appearance in Mario Kart and other games, she still retains the tom-boy attitude but looks much cuter in those other games. Also there wasn't all that much the characters had to say when they win or lose an event. Mario will always say "I'm a winner!" when he wins and event, and Sonic will say "Too easy!" which is something any loyal Sonic fan has probably heard before. More effort could had very easily been added to the voice acting for the characters.
But as a whole, the game has some pretty in dept motion controls uncommon in most Wii games and offers some competitive fun for a good while, at least until you unlock every event. But once you have, and you've tried all the events, there just isn't much left to put the game in for.You've experienced the full extent of what the game has to offer in about two months, and any more play just has that feeling that you have done it before. An online mode may have helped this fix, but the only reason the cover has the Wi-Fi sticker is so you can connect online to see other people's records. You don't actually get to compete online with other players, which is a disappointment.
Best be warned that when you purchase this game, you'll find yourself having a lot of fun for a while as you try out each event, but once you unlock everything there's a good chance you'll never want to pick it up again. I'd suggest it best for a rental, because Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games just doesn't have enough substance and content to keep anyone interested for much longer than a certain amount of weeks. Because after that you'll find yourself thinking "Here we go again..."