Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games

"Mario & Sonic clinch Olympic...hold on a second, the multiplayer does a false start"

See that review title? I bet you're wandering why I said that. Because Mario & Sonic on Wii had brilliant local multiplayer options, with four players on one Wii, did you just expect that the DS version will be the same? Well, I wished that happened. As you can see, I'm very disappointed with the multiplayer. Well, lets start on a high, shall we...

Mario & Sonic DS consists of all 16 Olympic events from the Wii version, plus two DS exclusives: 10m platform diving and cycling. 10m Platform diving is similar to the trampoline and cycling sees you using the shoulder buttons to pedal like crazy round an oval track. Also included is eight Dream events, five of which are exclusive to the DS. I won't spoil the dream events on Wii to those who haven't played it, but the DS' dream events are Dream Boxing, Dream Canoe, Dream Basketball, Dream Shooting and Dream Long Jump. Basically, this is the Wii version, compacted and a few additions of its own.

An obvious difference is the controls. The Wii's motion-sensoring controls worked brilliantly on the Wii and the DS' touch-screen controls work brilliantly as well. Simplified, you have to touch, rub and tap your way to Olympic glory. In the 100m for example, to run you slide the stylus across the screen incredibly fast. It does get tiring, but not as tiring as the Wii version.

All sixteen characters from the original game are present, each with their own abilities: Speed characters are good at events like the 100m; Skill types are good at Table Tennis and other skill-based events; Power types are extremely good at the Javelin and Hammer Throw and All-Around types are...well, equally good at everything. There's a variety of characters, most notable is Shadow and Dr. 'Eggman' Robotnik.

Three other modes are present: Circuit, Mission and Gallery. The Circuit mode sees you complete certain groups of events to eventually unlock new events, emblems and more circuits. Some are easy and some are hard, but this adds replay value to the game, just like it was in the Wii. The Mission mode sees you complete missions for each character on certain events. Completing the first five missions unlocks a super-hard sixth one. On Gallery mode, you complete mini-games to unlock music. Some are rubbish. Shame.

Now for the multiplayer. And it's bad. The main reason is that you can only play a dropful of the events in multiplayer. Only about 10 events are playable. It's just so restricting and limits the fun you can have with friends. You only need a single cart to support you and three friends, but I'm just disappointed with it. There's Wi-Fi support, but like the Wii version, you can't play online but instead you can upload rankings.

VERDICT: 7/10

+ The Wii version, compacted down
+ Touch-screen controls are brilliant
+ Lots of replay value
- Multiplayer is restricting and disappointing
- Still no online play

Considering multiplayer is the prime source of fun in it's bigger brother, this is a hard title to recommend for multiplayer action. But for a single-player experience, it's still great fun.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 05/27/08, Updated 08/31/09

Game Release: Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (EU, 02/08/08)