Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games

While the multiplayer option makes Mario & Sonic well worth checking out in a party environment, the game's missing one critical component of truly great multiplayer competitions: options. That's right -- there's just one way to play each event, staying a little too close to Olympic rules and regulations. You have to score 15 hits in fencing, you must compete in eight rounds of shooting, you've gotta play to 11 points in table tennis, and so on. The complexity in the competition's certainly a step up from Wii Sports and Wii Play, but without the option to play how you want and when you want, this feels like just another souped-up minigame collection. It's enjoyable -- and to be honest, more fun than I expected -- but it's not quite the evolution of Wii Sports we've been looking for.

Anyway. There are plenty of enjoyable mini-games here and they're nicely varied. There are some stinkers but that's to be expected. Most of the mini-games are well-balanced, and some have enough depth to make you keep playing again and again. Many of them will make you laugh out loud. It's a shame you can't play all of them without having to complete hours of single-player challenges. But if you're willing to put the hours in, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games is a highly entertaining party game.

"Mario & Sonic look to test their athletic mettle in this upcoming Olympic-themed game, and we've got a first look."

Mario and Sonics' debut as a duo fails to earn them a spot on the medal stand.

"All that leaves Mario and Sonic with a couple more redeeming games than Wii Sports, which means it's not a total loss, and the developers went beyond imitating Olympic sports."