Mario & Sonic at the WInter Olympics

The basics

Mario and Co take to the slopes in a reworking of the summer games title of 2008. You can try your hand at skiing, using you Wii nunchucks as ski poles, or barrel down slaloms and steer round half pipes.
There's also some new fantasy events such as Dream Ski Cross, which is a Mario Kart style and you can also play as any of the characters from the original game - from Prince Peach to Vector the Crocodile, as well as first-timers Donkey Kong and Metal Sonic.

The good

You’ll enjoy the race events, which usually see you prepping a run up, hitting A at the right them, then twisting with the Wii remote to steer you through flags or down the chute in the fastest time. Frivolous, and fun. The Dream events are totally adictive, which see Sega and Nintendo style elements thrown in. The snowboarding race has both Sonic-style loop the loops and red shells and is by far the most exciting event in the whole game.

The bad

Getting to the Dream events is a dreary process. You’ll have to play through the regular sports, all of which seem to involve tilting, shaking and nothing more, have some boss races in single player which fail to match the decade-old Diddy Kong Racing for excitement, and then unlock them. It’s not like many of the winter games haven’t been done before on the Wii either, with games such as SSX Blur and Shawn White Snowboarding showing how downhill racing can be done with Nintendo's console.

The bottom line

Mario & Sonic at the Winter Olympic Games doesn’t push the Wii to the limits, but it’s easy enough on the eye and the flashes of Mario Kart are a nice touch. With four people crammed into the living room, it’ll pass away a wet afternoon, but Mario & Sonic at the Winter Olympic Games won’t keep anyone coming back like Wii Sports Resort will.