Every four years, the world's greatest athletes gather in one place to represent their countries and compete against one another to be recognized as the best in their sport. In less than 7 months, Beijing will be the host of the 2008 Summer Olympics; in the meantime, the DS is the latest home of SEGA's own take on the quadrennial spectacle. Originally scheduled to ship together, the DS version of Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games was pushed back to release a couple of months later than the Wii version. After months of waving Wiimotes and Nunchucks about, it looks like there's still room pick up a stylus and tap your way to Olympic glory.

Just like the game's Wii counterpart, Mario & Sonic for the DS involves 16 characters of different classes competing in various Olympic events. A cast of Nintendo and SEGA favorites act as competitors from each label, instead of delegates from world countries. To compete in the various mini-games you'll have to match class to event. There are four different types of competitors, each with different attributes. Although it would seem logical to pick Sonic for foot-races, there really aren't any hands-down winners in any event, with performances based more on how well you play the event. 

Considerably, one of the biggest downfalls with the game is the fact that character choice doesn't really matter that much. The AI isn't too complex and doesn't offer much in terms of competition. Since there are no difficulty options, competition is really reserved for World Rankings and multiplayer games--we'll get to those in a minute.

That isn't to say that the game is a breeze however, as the actual events themselves can be challenging, and require more than a few times to really nail down. There are 20 authentic Olympic events ranging from the traditional 100m dash, to the less-than-exhilarating trampoline gymnastics; also however, there are fantasy-based events with more unique gameplay. The games involve a mix of button controls with touch-and-draw mechanics via the stylus. Surprisingly, in events that involve a combination of the controls, the setup works quite well; and as a considerate thought, left-handed players have been included in the game design.

Starting out, not all of the events will be open to play, and are only unlocked by playing through the Circuit Mode. By winning varying amounts of events in the circuits and successfully completing them, more circuits are unlocked along with the events; events used to complete tasks in Mission games as well as Single Match events. While the true game is made up through the Circuit Mode, missions add much needed life to the single player experience. By their nature, mini-games are fun and accessible, but on their own they can become repetitive and short-lived. Instead of just trying to beat a simple AI, missions create scenarios where players have to complete very specific tasks which usually require a number of attempts to get just right.

Rounding out the single player experience are the puzzling Gallery games. The concept is really mini-games, in a game filled with mini-games--it's not as confusing as it sounds. Instead of competing in events, you play through different mini-games to reach easily-achievable scores on games similar to Memory and Simon Says. Evidently this was an attempt at including the ever-popular brain-training aspect of the DS, but it seems out of place and a tacky add-on. The games seem overly easy, and your only rewards are songs from various--are you ready--Mario and Sonic titles and answers to mundane, Olympic-themed questions.

Although playing through events by yourself is fun, even with well designed gameplay, there really isn't a sense of competition. There may be a seemingly endless amount of medals and trophies to acquire, but unless you feverishly crave completing everything to the last possible end, the single player experience is fairly limited; albeit entirely enjoyable for the entire time.

This is where there was opportunity for the DS version of Mario & Sonic to separate itself from its Wii cousin: a robust multiplayer, complete with online play. Disappointed Wii owners were a bit disenfranchised with the fact their Nintendo-SEGA-filled Olympic adventure failed to implement any sort of global multiplayer, and sadly, so will DS gamers. Again, the only sort of online functionality the DS title has is World Rankings--which wasn't implemented very graciously as you have to update records for each event, individually. Arguably, there is a challenge in vying for the top scores in every event, even if it's only to compare them to other scores, but virtually fencing someone on the other side of the world would have been much more preferable.

Still, there are multiplayer options via local Wi-Fi. Up to three other players can play simultaneously off of a single cartridge, but only a handful of events can be accessed. In-order to get full multiplayer experience all four players will have to pony-up the cash for their own games, and as long as someone has spent their time playing through the game, everyone can participate in any event. Once you have a few real-life challengers things get more interesting, and it becomes evident that the game can actually get intense.

In the end, Mario & Sonic for the DS is worth the price, even if you own the Wii version. Even on the handheld, the game looks great, and although the audio quality isn't top-notch, you'll still recognize characters and theme songs. The gameplay has been designed exceptionally well for both stylus-based and button-only events; even when required to use the two mechanics together, everything feels right. The Wii title is a blast, and the ability to take that on-the-move makes the DS version an accessible game that is fun where-ever you are. Even though the single player experience may be a bit shallow, there is plenty to bring gamers together and enough incentive to keep playing.

Too bad we won't be seeing Sonic in the 100m dash in Beijing come August.        


Gameplay: 8.5
Graphics: 8.0
Audio: 7.5
Lasting Appeal: 7.0
Overall: 7.5  

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