Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games

When you first turn on the game you are welcomed by an incredibly ambitious intro film that showcases the events on offer. It even makes the figure skating seem appealing and I think to myself that I may actually enjoy this one a lot as I make my way to the main menu. After entering my name and setting up a save file I face one of the bigger problems with this game. The loading screen. No matter what you want to do you are going to have to stare at them. Want to take a look at what mini games are available to play? Please wait 30 seconds. Want to return to the main menu? Please wait for a little while.

I can accept loading when something is actually being loaded from the disc, but when you move between two menus? Not acceptable. As you finally settle on an event you want to try you will kindly have to wait a little longer. Understandable as something is actually being loaded now. For a party game these constant breaks are absolutely devastating and risk ruin the party atmosphere quickly.

It should be noted that the game has its upsides. Ski jumping and Snowball Fight are two entertaining events, but they are also among the few mini games with decent controls. In other events the controls are so imprecise and poorly configured that almost regardless of what you are trying to do your character will do the opposite. Slalom is the perfect example of this. If you wish to perform a left turn you are supposed to move the controllers ever so slightly in that direction, move it too fast and you will jump. After a few runs down the slope we gave up and decided never to do it again. This procedure was repeated with most of the events.

Curling is very similar to Bowling in Wii Sports and is good fun when played with a few friends. One person takes aim before sending the stone towards the house with a bowling like motion. It is also possible to put spin on the stone as you release it. The other players will now have to sweep the surface to ice in order to make the stone go as far as it needs to in order to register points. Teamwork is essential and you take turn performing the different tasks.

Ski jumping is fairly straight forward. The only thing you have to do is to hoist the controller at the right moment, but there is a lot of prestige that goes into landing the longest jump. Perhaps not something that lasts very long, but its good fun in between curling rounds. The previously mentioned Snowball Fight offers some of the best moments the game has to offer. There are different barriers placed around the level where you can take cover and make snowballs. You lock in your aim with the z button and then its all about throwing the snowballs. You control the character with the analogue stick, and thanks to functional controls this is the most entertaining event.

Wii games have become known for their midi music. It's a simple way of making elegant, and beautiful tunes, something The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess proved. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games doesn't even come close. A selection of tunes from various Sonic and Mario games are used, but for some reason Sega have decided to remix these. The end result is horrible, and the otherwise wonderful tracks from Super Mario Galaxy become so annoying that I had to mute the game. It's a total butchering of masterpieces that really puts me off.

It should be noted that after I finished playing the game I handed it over to my kid sister. And in her world it was like having her birthday, Christmas and new years appear on the same day. While older players will be annoyed by imprecise controls and awful music, it appears to push the right buttons for a younger audience. With that in mind the score could go up a couple of notches when considered as a gift to a young gamer.

(The reviewer tested the game with the standard set of Wiimote and Nunchuck controllers)