Release Date: 12/31/2009
ESRB Rating: Rating Pending
Genre: Sports
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sega

The first Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games sold incredibly well (over 10 million copies across Wii and DS), yet it was mostly met with a shrug of the shoulders in gaming reviews. Despite the dream team mash-up of my favorite red-capped plumber and furry blue hedgehog, the game was nothing more than a handful of barely passable minigames set in the Beijing summer Olympics. Of course, with large software sales and the bi-annual international publicity guaranteed by the Olympics, the follow-up Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games was inevitable.
I recently headed up to Vancouver Canada -- the site of the real 2010 winter games -- to try out three of the game's feature events: alpine downhill skiing, speed skating, and bobsledding. I didn't get too much time with the game, but the demo made one point abundantly clear: The Sega team listened to critics' complaints about the first title.

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Speed Skating is the simplest of the three new events, though I had trouble getting into its rhythm. Swinging the Wii Remote in steady, measured strokes that replicate the on-screen character's movements propels you forward, but I found it difficult to spot the visual cue letting me know when to launch my arm in the opposite direction (one of the staffers on hand finally pointed out a slight glow that indicated the moment). Unfortunately, the event lasts under a minute, so it was almost over by the time I found my stride.

Bobsledding on the other hand, involves much more user input for success. Like last year's Raving Rabbids: TV Party, you can sit on the Balance Board and control by leaning your body -- just try to keep your bobsled lined up on the track to maintain maximum speed. You can add up to three more people, but they're stuck holding a Wii-mote, hugging it to their chest and leaning from side to side to steer. The co-op element adds a lot to this event -- onscreen arrows glow when multiple players lean together perfectly. Though, oddly, during my group's run, our best time came from a round where we all never really synched up.

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But the best of the event's three games was alpine downhill skiing. It uses the Balance Board and seems to control better than last year's We Ski. Without the Board, both the Wii-mote and Nunchuck are required; you simply hold the controllers like ski poles and tilt them from side to side to turn. But to remind you that you're in the videogame world, each character has a special speed boost that's activated with the A button.

Sega still has plenty of game left to show, but one of my early concerns is lack of level variety. Each event will have only one track, so even if you love skiing, you may bore of it quickly once you've mastered the given run. And it gets worse when you consider that three of the Winter Games events (Bobsled, Luge, and Skeleton) all use the same track. But unique to the Wii version (unlike last year, Sega's developing both Wii and DS Winter Games independently) is a "Festival Mode" that will send you on a complete tour of the Olympics. Sega withheld specific details, but hopefully there'll be a story arc tying the whole experience together. Either way, you'll see whether Mario and Sonic can match their Beijing success when Winter Games releases this fall

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woo, my bad, will a mod move this, please and thank you..