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For those that remember Mario and Sonic (be ashamed if you don't), it should come as no surprise that when both characters joined forces in 2007 on Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games it proved a huge hit to fans of the two famous characters we all associate with Nintendo and SEGA. Thankfully, SEGA has listened to its sales figures and set about creating its sequel, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games. We managed to get some hands-on time with it to see just what SEGA was planning to do with the sequel to 2007's hit game.
The version we got to try out included three different events; Speed Skating, Skiing and Bobsleighing. One of the great benefits of this sequel is the inclusion of support for the Wii balance board which is certainly a lot more fun than using the remotes since for those that played the original will know, after about an hour of playing you'll feel like your hands are going to fall off, now we can experience it in our legs, Oh joy!
We went ahead and tried some Speed Skating first, this event didn't include support for the balance board, simply because there's no need to balance. The whole point of Speed Skating is to get to the finish first, forget everything else, you must win. With this being a speed event, the only likely choice for our character was Sonic, being a super fast hedgehog should leave everyone in our snow, or ice, whichever you prefer to call it. The start of the race involved swinging the remote from left to right to build up enough speed, once we did this it was time for skating. The skating is a simple affair to accomplish, it's more a test of your endurance and whilst again you must swing the Wii remote from left to right holding it upright, the aim of the game is to keep the rhythm going and make precise swings so as to keep your speed up. Once your near the end of the course you have to switch back to the original control method which is just a case of swinging it as fast as you possibly can regardless of the precision or not. Thankfully the event didn't last to long, any longer and my wrists wouldn't have been able to play anything else that was on offer!
Skiing was definitely one of the favourites that I got to try, brandishing the Wii balance board like a magic carpet, I stepped aboard like an emperor upon his carriage, well maybe not, but you get the idea. As with real life skiing, the objective is to ski down the hill as fast as possible while passing through the gates, missing a gate would mean time is deducted from your final score so precision is key. While using the balance board for skiing, you still need to hold the remote and nunchuk to steer left and right, but the balance board allows you to put pressure on one side to lean into the direction you want to go. You can of course play without the balance board and from initial impressions it would probably be easier (it would certainly save your legs), but unfortunately we didn't get time to try it without the balance board.
The final event we got to try was Bobsleigh, let me be the first to say that this event was the best, again the balance board can be used to play this event but isn't a requirement. Once in position like a scene from Cool Runnings (without black, green and yellow leotards), you start by waving the remote to get your team moving and then hit the A button to get mounted into the bobsleigh. With this being a bobsleigh, it wouldn't be right standing up on the balance board, so of course now was the time to rest my precious legs and let my backside do all the work (a first in my book). Bobsleighing is pretty easy to get into but as with most sports if not all only practice will make a master of you. The bobsleigh will simply glide down the course on its own accord if the controls are left alone since there is no other place for it to go, but you simply won't get a good time letting it do this, so participation is encouraged – that's why you're playing, well, you should be. The aim of Bobsleighing is to get the fastest time while leaning into the corners correctly. We were told that the Bobsleighing allows four players to participate all in one go, so some bobsleighing team action can be had if you all fancy sitting in front of one another and leaning into the corners correctly.
The game from what was shown included various famous characters, Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Toad, Sonic, Knuckles, Miles and Amy, there's also news that a few others including Metal Sonic and Donkey Kong are playable but we didn't see them when we navigated through the selection screen.
Initial impressions of the game are very good, a party game at heart especially the Bobsleighing. One of the great things SEGA took into account while developing was allowing the use of the balance board, and supporting users without it, it adds a layer of depth to the controls and saves your poor wrists from utter annihilation at the mercy of the game.
Visually, the game looks just as good as the original, there didn't seem to be much of an improvement over the originals graphics, yet with limited playtime and limited levels it was hard to judge the graphics based on what we saw. We'll have to wait for a side by side comparison to comment but from initial impressions it uses the same engine as the original.
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games does look set to be another huge hit, especially to fans of the original, and I myself can see many fun nights participating in a few rounds on the balance board. Look forward to the game being released on the Wii and DS coming this October 13th.
