I know what some of you are thinking, "Oh no, not another track game!". But quite frankly as someone who loves the sport of track & field, I could find no better way to spend my time in front of the tv than to be playing this glorious game! Ok, maybe that was a little bit overboard, there is espn, mtv and bet to keep my company but thats besides the fact, Mario & Sonic at the olympic games is a great game for the nintendo wii despite the sub-par reviews on many popular video game websites. Whats so great about it? Firstly, you get to play as a host of characters from the super mario franchise and sonic legacy, including:
- Bowser
- Yoshi
- Wario
- Knuckles
- Shadow
- Dr Eggman
As well as Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Daisy, Vector, Dash and a few others. You can also play as your mii characters (and this time they have hands and feet unlike in wii sports). There are a plethora of sports to choose from not just track and field as the game covers many of the sports done at the olympics, this includes, archery, rowing, gymastics, skeet (shooting), table tennis, track & field and some others I can't remember now. In track, you may choose from the:
- 100m
- 110m hurdles
- 400m
- 400m hurdles
- 4x100m
All of which are multiplayer. The field events are also multiplayer and require a bit more skill, especially the horizontal jumps (long jump and triple jump). There is a glitch in the high jump where after clearing 2.60m you aren't allowed to continue and automatically win. As a result the world record cannot go any higher than 2.60m (which is not that hard to attain). Additionally the impressions made in the sand from long and triple jump do not coincide with the resulting marks received. For example, lets say Luigi lands in the sand close to the 6.50 meter mark, more often than not the resulting measurement is over 7.00 meters. Additionally like some of it's predecessors (sydney olympics ps2) a large part of achieving success in the 100m is getting a great start and that requires you to start running right before you hear the gun since its impossible to react on time off hearing.
The controls are not complicated, for the running events you move the wii remote and nunchuck(or wii remote only) up and down to run - the faster you do this, the faster you will run, it's that simple. The jumping events involve the same running motion and swining the wii remote and nunchuck (for the triple jump and high jump) up. Hurdling and the throws (discus, javelin and hammer) involve incorporating the B button by pressing it when prompted to do so. Of the track events the 4x100m (400m) relay is by far the most complicated, and tiring. The user must run, then after buidling up enough speed, trigger the receiving team member to move off, hand the baton over and begin running again. After a few tries you get the hang of it, but it is VERY tiring!
There are special events and trophies which can be unlocked after completing missions in single player mode. One draw back is that there is no online play. As a consolation, you're able to see how your personal records compare against other users online.
Overall the game is really fun and if you're competitive you will at the very least get a workout from from flailing your hands repeatedly.
Here are a couple videos of a friend and I playing.
1 comment:
thanks for stopping by :-)
Post a Comment