Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter games review
If there ever was a title that captivated the essence of “milking the cow”, it’s probably the Nintendo SEGA fusion with Mario and Sonic — two of the most iconic game characters of all times. It’s especially bad considering the game itself isn’t original, but based on the “Olympics” brand, this time, Winter Olympics. So in essence, you got the same characters in a known environment. But is the game fun? Hard to say, which is exactly the point of this review.
The original Mario and Sonic at the Summer Olympic Games featured some known characters and a ton of mini games, some of which were quite fun, despite rather retarded controls at times. However, it was still fun and offered decent multiplayer gameplay for some folks in a living room, wiggling their remotes, and, as they’ll be happy to hear, the new game continues down the same path. This time though, it’s the Winter Olympics and it’s set in Vancouver in 2010. The range of mini games is impressive, a dozen of them, from skiing and showboarding, to hockey and bobsled. There’s even a curling game — which is quite a bit more fun that it seems (and definitely more fun that it appears in real life).
The gameplay involves a lot of wiggling with your Wii remote, but one overall factor plays in almost throughout all games; the feeling that it could have been better. The hockey game could have been great, but instead it’s simplistic and very easy, as with downhill skiing. The only mini game that seems to rise above the others, and quite surprisingly so, is Curling, which blends a perfect combination of controls and aiming, and can even get quite addictive. We don’t really feel any of that in the other mini games, which, sadly enough, seem like the developer didn’t put in enough effort, as the controls are pretty much the same: keep wriggling your remote and you’ll win. Or get across the finish line. As you play through the games, you earn coins which you can spend in a shot to improve your gear, get outfits and some custom icons for your gear, in case you need to pimp your snowboard.
Visually, the game resembles Wii Sports a lot, and most of other offerings by Nintendo. Not bad by any means, but certainly something that’s easy on the eye and geared towards the casual audience. This runs throughout the whole game — “casual” — every sense of it is too simplistic and seems to be intended for mom and pops and their little 4 year-old. Hardcore gamers will naturally be disappointed, as there isn’t enough challenge, and the controls are basically “waggle-waggle-waggle-pause-waggle-waggle-waggle”. Etc. 
It’s a great game if you have some casual gamer friends and looking for something to play with, besides chainsawing through the Gears of War campaign. But even then, the game could have been better, and could have offered something more than just cute characters and lots of snow.
The Good:
Easy to pick up and play
Casual audience will love it
The Bad:
Too easy
Controls are repetitive
Overall score: 6/10