Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games Hands-on Preview

Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games might not have pleased the hardcore, but for everyone else (all ten million of them) it was worth its weight in gold, keeping the kids and the grandparents occupied at Christmas while Mum and Dad collapsed in the corner. And, well, everyone knows Mario and Sonic, don’t they?

Buoyed by the game’s success, SEGA Japan’s gone and made a sequel, this time intended to tie in with the 2010 Winter Olympics due to take place in Vancouver early next year. It’s ingeniously titled Mario and Sonic at the Winter Olympic Games, and it’s out in October on Wii and DS.

Three events are on show at the press event SEGA Europe’s put on in London’s West End: Bobsleigh, Speed Skating and Downhill. Chief among the new features is Wii Balance Board compatibility (that thing you stand on from Wii Fit), but you don’t need it to play. In fact you can play every event with the Wii Remote alone. We know this because the only pod running the game with the Balance Board is being hogged by someone from the lifestyle press. He’s sitting down on it pretending to be in a sled.

We’re left with the Wii Remote, but that’s fine, because the game will no doubt be a good deal more playable with it. Eight characters are playable in this build: Mario, Luigi, Peach and Yoshi from Nintendo, and Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy from SEGA (this list isn’t complete – loads more characters, including Donkey Kong and Metal Sonic, have been confirmed). We begin with Bobsleigh at the Whistler Sliding Centre, Canada, an event that supports co-operative multiplayer – new for the series. We pick Mario (he’s a solid all-rounder in every game he’s ever appeared in), who then becomes leader of the four-man Team Mario. As the starting signal count downs, you push your sled along the ice towards the start line. To build up speed you need to swing the Remote up and down as fast as you can, then press the A button to jump in when the time is right.

We’re told in order to control the sled it’s better to hold the Remote close to your chest and pointed upwards rather than in front of you pointed forward. It helps – tilting left and right makes Mario and co shift their weight accordingly, leaning into corners for increased speed, but you can manage well enough simply holding the Remote normally. There’s a racing line layered on top of the track which grants a boost, but sticking to it is easier said than done. We imagine it’ll be even harder when played four-player – every player needs to tilt in unison, otherwise the weight of the characters will be working against each other. What’s best about the event is the impressive sense of speed. What’s worst is that it only supports one Wii Balance Board, as does the game as a whole, so you’ll never see four people sitting on their own Balance Boards all shifting the weight of their arses in perfect unison. It’s a shame – that really would have been one hell of a sight.

Next up is Downhill, basically alpine skiing down a snow-covered mountain through course gates. Again you can use the Balance Board – bending the knees helps, we overhear – but it’s perfectly playable with the Wii Remote. Turning and speed is entirely governed by tilting the Remote – twist left to turn left, right to turn right, tilt forward for increased speed and back to slow down. Each character has a signature boost, triggered by pressing the A button. When a slightly raised part of the course approaches, you can flick the Remote up to jump and perform trick combos. To get the best times, though, you need to stay close to the flags as you descend down the mountain – doing so increases your speed. And speed is once again impressive – a common theme it seems.

And finally we have Speed Skating at the Richmond Olympic Oval (not London’s Richmond, Canada’s Richmond). This is a one on one ice skate race against the computer or another player. The idea here is to swing the Remote left and right in perfect time so as to make Mario’s or whatever character’s legs move. It feels, at times, like a rhythm action game – mess up your timing and you’ll slow down, maintain your pace and you’ll build up momentum. While you’re able to make up some time on straightaways by shaking the Remote when your character’s hands flash to boost, it’s a hard event. We struggled to beat our computer-controlled opponent, even though we’re Sonic and, technically, he should always win in a race. ALWAYS.

And that’s your lot. There’s loads more to the game, of course, including ski jumping and ice hockey, Dream Events and “Festival Mode”, which allows you to play through the Olympics from opening to closing ceremony competitively against the computer or other players. But the core mechanic is that of its predecessor – a fun, family-friendly party game collection that’s sure to please fans of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games. This seems like an obvious thing to say, but there it is. It’s aimed at parents looking for a game to keep the in-laws happy this Christmas. We can’t see it failing to do that, no matter how hardcore you are.

Mario and Sonic at the Winter Olympic Games is due out for Wii and DS on October 16 2009.