Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games
Sonic the Hedgehog and Mario the Italian plumber may have been bitter rivals in the past, but in the spirit of the Beijing Olympics 2008, they are putting aside their differences to appear in the same game. That's exactly what they will do in Mario and Sonic At The Olympics, where you get to control 16 popular characters including Sonic, Mario, Shadow, Luigi, Bowser and Dr Eggman. Each character has its own speed, skill and power rating. Sonic, for example, is the fastest but he is not very strong while Bowser is all brawn but slower. There are also all-round characters like Mario and Luigi who may not outrun Sonic or out-throw Bowser, but they will do well in decathlon-type circuits. This is an excellent game for the family as you pit up to four characters against one another and against other computer players in a 100m dash, long jump, javelin, rowing, table tennis, archery, fencing and other events. Every sport makes use of the Wii's unique motion sensing controls. So for 100m hurdles, for instance, you have to shake your Wiimote and nunchak up and down in quick succession. While running, you also have to press the B button at the right time to clear the hurdles. If you hit the hurdles, you will slow down substantially but if you clear them right, you even get a speed boost. This game is best played against other human players, but the single player mode is also fun as the computer is a tough opponent. Running the 100m is particularly challenging as you have to really shake your hands up and down at lightning speed to make it to the finish line first. Like in real life, there is no room for complacency. You will soon realise that even your push-off needs to be timed perfectly to get an early head start to win the race. You can also choose to play as a team in the 4 x 100m relay where four human players can team up to beat the computer-controlled goons.You can either play a single event or a circuit, which consists of a number of different sports. The one who wins the most events wins the circuit. You can also access Olympics trivia in the Gallery section by playing mini-games to unlock content. Overall, this is an excellent game for an afternoon of family time, but it won't appeal to hardcore gamers looking for some serious action and firepower.
