Video game number two hundred and twenty eight: Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games

Video game review number two hundred and twenty eight in my 365 Games in 365 Days project is "Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games".

I didn't think Mario could star in a game that was less fun to play than 3 vs. 3 Hoops.

I was wrong.

Several months ago, I played and reviewed Vancouver 2010, a game completely based on the winter Olympic games that were going on at the time. A few months after that, Nintendo started releasing the "Mario and Sonic" versions of it for the Wii and DS, and for some reason...I added them both to my Gamefly GameQ. The DS version just got here, and I still have to play the Wii version later in the week.

Oh boy.

Just like my review of Mario 3 vs. 3 Hoops earlier today, I hate this game because a lot of it relies on really bad stylus controls. I played Vancouver on the Xbox 360, and it wasn't anything I'd call "fun", but it was a lot better than this. This game takes sports that might not be the best candidates for a video game, and makes them even less fun by having you draw your way through them with the stylus.

Ski-Jumping? They turn it into a game where you doodle.

Snowboarding uses the controller and buttons...which makes it a little more fun, but it was the only game I could even tolerate. Bobsled, Luge and downhill skiing were all so incredibly annoying to control that after only 30 minutes with this one, I was ready to put it back in it's rental envelope.

If Mario was a Hollywood star, he would need a new fucking agent. I know these games weren't released back to back, but I've just played two absolutely TERRIBLE sports games starring everyone's favorite plumber...and I'm left wondering what the hell Nintendo is doing to their mascot. Seriously, why don't they have him star in a game where he just tells the gamer: "It's a'me....Mario. I have'a you money, so go fuck yourself!". At least that would be honest.

Overall Score? 2/10. This is even worse than the basketball game I just played...and what's worse than that is I have the Wii version in the mail. Hopefully that version will be more fun than this. It certainly wouldn't be hard.