Mario and Sonic at 2008 Beijing Olympics

Have you played Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games?  Being huge Olympics lovers, my family picked up this game a few months ago and we still haven’t gotten tired of it!  The game features Nintendo star, Mario, versus Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog (but you can play with any variety of characters from either series).  At first, I wasn’t sure how this game could possibly work but once we started playing, I was completely blown away.  My only warning - your arms are going to hurt so bad from using them so much on certain events but it’s well worth it!

The first official game of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics features events in the following categories: athletics, gymnastics, shooting, rowing, archery, aquatics, fencing, and table tennis.  I really can’t decide which ones are my favorite but I definitely have the hardest time with aquatics and table tennis.  I will say, though, that Peach (who I typically avoid using in games) is probably the most well-rounded and gave the best results.

In athletics, you will find track and field events like running, javelin throw and long jump.  The gymnastics category features things like trampoline and vault (the vault is incredible but you’ve really got to time it just right!).  Shooting, archery, fencing and table tennis are pretty straight-forward and are basically what you would expect.  The rowing, however, involves hitting the buttons in specific combinations (as prompted on-screen) along with doing a rowing motion with the Wii remote so it can be tricky (I really love this event, though!).  Aquatics is swimming and diving but the swimming is so hard!  I can’t do it properly and my arms just give out by the end of the race.

Here’s a quick video promo for the game:

All in all, I would recommend this game because it’s physical, fun and a great way to get excited about the upcoming Summer Olympics!

image via Amazon.com