There are only a few things are 100% certain in life.
Death, taxes, and that every 2-years we'll get a new Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games.
And this year's no exception with Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games coming
just in time for the the real-life games next year.
Now on the surface, Mario & Sonic 2014 offers quite a lot to do, providing access to 10-different
Winter Sports, some of which are subdivided further, making for 16 total.
And you'll find pretty much all of the Wintersports represented here, such as skiing, snowboarding,
bobsledding, Ice Hockey, among others.
Now being as this is a Mario & Sonic game, they're not exactly going for a realistic
depiction of these sports, instead opting for a more arcade-approach with simple controls..
Take Ski Jumping for example, which has you aiming for visible wind currents in order
to get speed boosts and increase your distance.
Or Skiing and Snowboarding, where simple tilts of the controller is basically all it takes
to make it the goal.
Yeah, they're not exactly aiming for Real Life here, which is a good thing, because
the game is at its best when it's being as out-there as possible.
And nothing showcases this better than the the game's 9 additional "Dream Events," which
all take place in either Mario or Sonic's world where all pretenses of realism go out
the window.
Such as with the Bullet Bill Sledge Race, where you're literally being pulled by a pair
of Bullet Bills--I'm pretty sure I haven't seen that in the Olympics before (though I
kind of wish it were a real-thing now).
Another Dream Event has you figure-skating through a level from Super Mario 3D Land,
complete with a Bowser encounter at the end.
Yep, it's absurd and awesome.
The music is catchy and the attention to detail here is fantastic--in fact, the game's visuals
in general are very pleasant to look at, and the character models look great in HD.
So clearly there's a lot of variety here, and most of the activities are pretty enjoyable.
Even Curliing, which is perhaps the deepest of the sports here, allowing you to use the
GamePad to actually plan your throw with a surprisingly in-depth interface.
But here's the problem: With the notable exception of curling, most of the individual sports
barely feel much more fleshed out than a Mario Party minigame.
Even though I liked that the controls are simple, they don't exactly offer a ton of
depth once you grow used to them.
And compounding this fact is that you'll find only a single-track for most of the sports.
So even if you love Alpine Skiing Downhill, there's only so many times you can runt he
same course before it starts to grow dull.
And this applies to pretty much every sport in the game, which is a real shame.
I mean, I really loved the Snowboarding Dream Event, which has you racing downhill in a
2-lap Mario Kart-like level--it actually reminded me of one of my favorite N64 multiplayer games,
Snowboard Kids.
But again, since that's the only level available here, it only takes a few plays to see everything
it has to offer.
Another Dream Event has you riding a Curling Puck in a golf-like game with 2-holes.
And It's pretty fun--until you realize it's always the same two holes
The closest thing to an exception is the Street Hockey Dream Event, which offers up a comparatively
remarkable 3-arenas--all of which are based on the Isle Delfino section from Mario Sunshine,
which is pretty cool.
Unfortunately in this case, the game's mechanics are so simplistic that even the additional
arenas can't make the core gameplay interesting.
By comparison, I actually found the Hockey mode of Mario Sports Mix on the Wii to be
a lot more enjoyable.
And it's this unfortunate lack of depth that permeates the entire game.
Even though there are 25 events in total, there's just very little reason to revisit
most of them.
Even the Legends Showdown mode, which is the closest thing this game has to a story mode--can
be completed in just a couple hours, and you'll play practically every event the game has
to offer in that time.
And on top of all this, the game's interface is surprisingly clunky, making you switch
between the Wii Remote and GamePad for all kinds of sports, with very little reason to--as
proven by the game's multiplayer mode where everyone but Player 1 is forced to use a Wii
Remote instead of the GamePad.
Now speaking of which, I should mention that every one of the game's 25 sports can be played
with multiple people locally.
And it does make most of them at least a little more enjoyable
And the game even has online play too--but there's a catch: It's only available for four
sports: Freestyle Ski Cross, Snowboard Cross, Short Track, and Winter Sports Champion Racing.
So if you don't like racing, you're out-of-luck.
And again, with only one-track available for each of the modes, it probably won't be long
before you tire of it too.
With that said the online play, in my experience, worked smoothly with minimal lag, although
the interface is a little annoying, forcing you to regroup with your friends between events.
Although it's almost worth it just to see your Mii piloting a cute, adorable little
plane.
Overall Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games isn't a bad game--in fact, it's
even a fun one..
But it's almost too ambitious for its own good, offering too many sports with too little
to do for most of them.
Being confined to just a single-track for most of the games is a total bummer, particularly
when the game's mechanics are already fairly shallow.
So there is fun to be had here, but the limited replayability seriously limited the mileage
I was able to get out out of it.
And even though the game is better when playing with friends, it's not that much better, which
is why I'm giving both the Single-Player and Multi-Player modes 3 Stars out of 5.
Thanks for watching and make sure to stay-tuned to GameXplain.com for more reviews and other
things gaming to