"Adventure Tours" is set up like a role-playing game, but with some pretty bland writing, basic lock and key conventions, and not much to push the experience beyond "Go talk to Yoshi and challenge him to a race" there isn't much to encourage players to continue. As for the package outside of the events themselves, Mario & Sonic includes a more robust single player mode, but it's also far from groundbreaking in design. You may not get the feel of physically pushing yourself to the limits while mashing buttons to speed skate, but using finesse and strategy in curling is pretty dang close to the real thing transformed into pocket goodness. Instead, curling – a mix between shuffleboard, horseshoes, and bocce ball – is a laid back event that is well represented from top to bottom. It's more than just mashing buttons, scribbling all over the place, or adapting traditional racing controls into something like a downhill event. Using some nice swipe-based strength and a well-developed core mechanic, curling is a great addition to the package. On Wii, curling was the event to play, and on DS that again remains true. And then there's the old ace up the sleeve. Most of the time though, traditional controls win out over gimmicks, so snowboard rocks its skiing counterpart, cross country and biathlon are welcomed additions, and skating (more of a Track & Field button masher) beats out its Wii counterpart which is entirely waggle. Ski Jump is perhaps the biggest exception to the rule though, designed around the stylus for launch, jump timing, and mid-air tilting by tapping the left and right sides of the touch screen. Everything from luge, bobsleigh, and snowboarding is done better on DS, and it usually relies on using traditional controls instead of experimental scribble tactics. That's just one of the odd "Why?" moments in an otherwise well-developed game. Why gun control is done with the d-pad and not stylus, however, is beyond me.
It's a blast, and while the added Biathlon mode is nothing more than cross country with an added (and puzzling) d-pad based gun aiming mini-game at the end, it's still another event to add to the "plus" side of things, rather than bringing the package down. With cross country, the developer actually took from Nintendo's own Excitebike, making a 2D lane-based racer with a stamina meter, downhill "tuck" mechanic, and even thick snow to act as slowing terrain. Speedskating is a basic "L/R" mash-fest, but cross country skiing – which I had very little expectation for at all – came out of nowhere as great event. Sure you've still got some outcasts – skiing is stylus based, while the very similar snowboarding events are done with a much more reliable d-pad and button control set – but for the most part it's a very enjoyable experience. The+RPG+mechanic+may+be+simple,+but+the+games+themselves+are+fresh+and+fun. If you're going to pick up Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, pick it up for DS. Many of the events stay fun after countless runs, the core staples such as ski, snowboard, speedskating, and sled-based disciplines are all surprisingly refreshing, and it simply plays better all around. There are still some odd control decisions from time to time, and not every event is as good as it could be, but the overall standard of quality across the DS version of Mario & Sonic is simply higher all-around. You've got your core Olympic disciplines, dream events to throw in a little more "gamey" content in there, you've got the Mario and Sonic franchise characters, and the backdrop of the 2010 Olympic games in Vancouver. Such is the case with Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, a title that's based on the Wii version, and while not perfect in its own right, manages to come together as a much stronger package than its console counterpart.Īt its surface, Mario & Sonic DS looks like it'd be a carbon copy of the Wii version, and nearly identical in many ways. The Big N's handheld has been home to some pretty impressive games over the last few years, and while not everything on the system is golden, developers seem right at home with pushing their properties onto such an inviting, accessible system.
While most of the attention has been on the Wii version of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, its Nintendo's handheld that's again quietly stepping up to deliver serious quality.