Mario And Sonic At The Winter Olympic Games Review: Going For Gold

Sometime in the late 1980s, my parents went on a trip to Jamaica without me. I assume they had a good time, and completely understand them not wanting to drag me, a seven year old, and my brother, we’ll say thirteen at the time, around a tropical island with them. I get that. So, when they returned, seven year old me was only really concerned about what they brought me back. Much to my surprise, my parents seemed to have gotten something right, and they brought me back a Nintendo game, instead of some lame painted rock… or at least that’s what I thought until I started to play it. The game was the NES port of the Epyx “classic” “Winter Games,” and God, was it bad. Okay, maybe it wasn’t bad, but it was boring, and I could never really figure out the controls, especially for figure skating. Fast forward to the present day, and if my parents were to head to the Caribbean this holiday season, and bring me back a winter games themed video game, namely “Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games,” I think I would be singing a slightly different tune.

Comparing “Mario and Sonic” to “Winter Games” is like comparing apples to oranges, in that the only two things they have in common is that they are both comprised of a collection of winter themed games, and that they are both, in fact, video games. It stops there. “Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games” just has so much more to offer. [Continue Reading]