Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

20 to 40 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Surprisingly good"

You would think that putting Mario and Sonic in a game together would be unreal, however they pulled it off well. While I think a Mario and Sonic game would be better as some type of platformer, this is a great game which I'd recommend to any Mario, Sonic or Sports fan.

Theres no story and as the title suggests, sixteen characters (eight from each franchise) take part in the olympic games which comprises of 24 events including races, hurdles, swimming, trampoline, table tennis and hammer throw. In single mode you can play these events individually or go for one of the many circuits where you play through 4 selected events with the character of your choice. Alongside that is mission mode, which gives each character 5 different missions which varies from throwing a javelin at a specific angle to getting a set score in trampoline.

I find each of the events enjoyable to play and the controls are easy to get used to, however a large amount of events require you to run, which you do my rubbing the stylus back and forth on the touch screen. This can cause the screen to become scratched and damaged as the rubbing function is used quite a lot. In fact nearly all the games are used using the stylus, either rubbing it or tracing arrows or moving it in circles or back and forth. Either way it definately tests the touch screens strength.

Despite that though, the game is great fun to play and there are plenty of stuff to do. Half of the events are unlocked by playing through the circuits and each character has medals to earn and there are also tropheys, emblems and crowns to be won by clearing missons and earning gold medals in events.

As well as these events there is also a gallery feature, which features some non-olympic mini-games, unlocking various facts about the olympics as you progress through all 25 of them (5 games each at 5 different difficulties)

The multiplayer is great if you two of you have the game, however, with the download play there are only six events that can be played- 100m sprint, trampoline, long jump, basketball, canoe and archery which is a little dissapointing.

The graphics, sound effects and music in this game are great, which makes the game all the more playable.

Another awesome feature is the wi-fi, which, like the wii version, allows you to put your top scores and new world records online for eveeyone else to see.

Overall this is a great game that any fan would be proud to own.

But it did only took me a day to beat it.