Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games Review: Enjoyable Olympic Gaming

Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games Review

Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games
SEGA
Nintendo 3DS
Sports

Opening Statement

Get ready for the Olympics with Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games!

About The Game

Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games features a lot of your favorite characters from the Mario and Sonic worlds. This includes your heroes, sidekicks, villains and more!

Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games features over 50 events for you to participate in and enjoy. They also provide you with a number of different ways for you to enjoy these events. You can play through a Story mode that takes you through the different events or you can choose single player mode and choose a highlight match which is just a single match of your choosing. Single player also includes a medley match where you play back to back events and try for a top overall score. That option is set up really well as you can choose a medley match by category or by gameplay type and also a mixture of games. You can also create your own medley of matches so you can play only your favorite events.

When it comes to participating in events, how it works is that they basically take a section of an event and you play that out. For the more complex sporting events such as water polo or soccer, they simply take a main action from the game itself and make it into a mini game to play. Now, not all games come off like this, for a lot of games are already short in style and play out in a good fashion. So it’s kind of a mixed bag depending on the depth of the sport, but each game can still be a lot of fun to play even if it’s not exactly the actual game and it’s simply just a mini game instead. For example, I would have rather played an actual soccer game, but they still did a good job representing the sport with a fun mini game. How they did it was that you need to score on a volley from a corner kick by pulling the circle pad down and lifting once the ball gets to you.

Then you have games such as the long jumps, pole vaults and 100m freestyle swimming. Many of your basic Olympic games, which play out and are a lot of fun to participate in. I really enjoyed the swimming as it used multiple fingers on the touch screen to play. You tap the left and right side of the touch screen as if you where swimming and that’s how you swim in the game. No matter what the sport is here, it’s fun to play out and you’ll have a good time going through them.

Game play – AI – Controls

The gameplay in a lot of these events are played out very well and have a unique take on how the game plays. Some of the games simply require that you use buttons. Others require that you use the touch screen. You even have some that require you to blow into the microphone in order to successfully play the game. Some of them also use the gyro controls as well, so you certainly get a good mix and selection of style with every one of these mini games. Each one also requires a little something different as well, such as quickness, awareness, strategy and smarts. Once again, each one of these events play fairly well though you may have one or two that take you some time to understand.

Sound – Graphics

The sounds in the game are not that special, though it does capture the Olympic sounds that you would expect. The visuals do look very nice and the 3D in the game is also very lovely. You have a good feeling of depth in some of the games where that does become advantageous. That, in my opinion is always a good thing and something you will enjoy when playing this game.

Enjoyment Level – Fun Factor

I enjoyed my time with Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games, it wasn’t quite as fun as I was hoping but some of those games can really draw you in and keep you playing for better scores. I wish there was a little more depth to some of the games though. That certainly would have improved this title a lot. Even so, I can see a lot of Mario and Sonic lovers who are fans of the Olympics enjoying this one quite a bit. Especially those who can play locally with friends by either local play or download play. For those who have a slight interest in this title, I would recommend you renting it at first, but it still wouldn’t be a bad purchase if you decide to go that route.

Final Notes

Sadly, there is no online multiplayer that would have helped make this game more enjoyable. However, one option that helps out a little bit is the online ranking system in place for a number of the events. After you play the single player events you can upload them online and find out where you rank. Another option that some might like that goes along with it, is that you can unlock badges for your profile to use online. So when your friends or others see your score they will see what special icons you have unlocked.

Score: 7/10