Mario

I really wanted to get this review out tonight. I haven’t had the chance to give it a once-over just yet, but I’m hoping to fix this up in the next few minutes. I hope you enjoy the review, and that it brings you closer to a decision on whether you should purchase or not! See you in a few, short hours.

Mario Sports Mix is a very mixed bag. As most of you know, I’m not really into sports games. That’s not to say that I don’t have an open mind with all games that I tackle. I go in ready and willing to have a great experience. I approached Mario Sports Mix in the same way. I had a great amount of fun with Super Mario Strikers and Mario Strikers Charged, and I never thought I would be playing either of those games. That’s pretty much the mentality I had going into Mario Sports Mix. If anyone is going to make me enjoy a sports-related video game, Nintendo and company have the best shot.

As I said above, this title is an extremely mixed bag. It actually has nothing to do with the quality of the sports games that are included. It has to do with the crowd you’re going to play this game with. Just think about this game as if it were real life. Would you like to play various sports with a bunch of people that you’ve never met in your life, or would you rather jump in on the action with friends and family that you know? It’s always better when you are working with people that you know and can depend on. That’s the key to having a ton of fun in Mario Sports Mix, and that fact alone is where your decision to purchase should rest.

First off, if you’re looking for the amount of depth you get from a game like Mario Strikers Charged, you’re not going to find that here. You’ll have plenty to get involved with and have fun, but you’re not going to get that same level of detail an immersion. While the Strikers series is quite an arcade-like experience, I would say that Mario Sports Mix takes things even further. The sports grouping in this title resembles their real-life counterparts in only the most basic of mechanics. Sometimes, even those basic rules don’t apply. The good news is, I don’t think many of you are coming to this game to find a realistic experience.

What you’re getting here are 4 sports that we’ve all played in gym class over the years. Basketball, Hockey, Volleyball and Dodgeball. I’m sure we all have some great and horrible memories from our school days involving these games. I know that thinking about Dodgeball brings back images of getting smacked in the side of the head with a speeding volleyball. Yes, we used to play dodgeball with volleyballs in our school. That’s a completely different story, though! As you all know what these sports are, I’m going to break them down into their Mario Sports Mix varieties.

Out of the entire mix, I would have to say that Volleyball was the most enjoyable. The core mechanics are bumping, setting and spiking. The volleys will go back and forth, and you’ll do your best to score a quick point off the other team. How do the Mario mechanics play into this? It all depends on the courts you play on. For example, one court puts you on a sunny beach with the waves crashing at your feet. Those waves will also bring in turtle shells that you can toss at your opponents. When you can’t get a leg-up the honest way, just check a turtle shell at your opponent and take them out! That’s just one example of the kind of court interactivity you’ll be dealing with.

Next up is Hockey, which again throws in some new twists. Forget the rules in this game. You can beat the crap out of your opponents as much as you want. Sometimes you’ll even get caught up in fights that have you waggling the Wiimote as hard as you can. Eventually you’ll steal the puck away and shoot for the goal. In this game, you’ll be using a coin instead of a puck. You’ll also have hazards to deal with, such as cones that block goals and other distractions. Sometimes you won’t even have someone to play as goalie. You’ll have to let the court items do that for you. Even better is the fact that some courts have you playing on ice, while others give you a set of rollerblades to play on.

Out of all the sports here, I’d have to say that Dodgeball plays out the least like it does in its real-life counterpart. When you play a game of dodgeball in real life, I don’t think you have a health meter. You’ll have to wail on your opponent a few times to knock them out of the game. On top of that, catching an opponent’s throw doesn’t automatically put them out. I’m not sure if there are some other options you can tool around with to change this, as I was playing with the preset choices. Dodgeball is still a lot of fun, but you have to be willing to do away with your prior notions of how the game works.

Finally we have basketball, which has a rather odd way of playing out. The ball has a very floaty mechanic, and your goal is more about making dunks than going for 3-point shots. You can still do alley-oops if you work things out with your partner, but it’s much easier to go in hard for the hoop. Courts in this game are much smaller than you might expect, and it hardly takes any time to travel from one basket to the other. This may sound like it’s a bit restrictive, but the court sizes help to keep things moving along quickly. Higher scores and less emphasis on passing can lead to some pretty heated battles.

All of these games are going to warp the traditional sports by way of power-up moves and items. No matter what sport your are taking on, you’ll always be able to scoop up a power-up along the way. Throw a turtle shell at your enemies, drop a banana peel on the court to make someone slip up. You know how this kind of stuff works. You’ll also be able to build up a meter that lets you do a character-specific special move. These moves will help you take out your opponents and get an easy score. They also spice up the gameplay and give you a chance to come back just incase you’re getting your butt handed to you.

I can’t tell you which games you’re going to like more than the others. I can tell you what ones I believe function the best. For me, I found Volleyball to be the easiest to play as well as the most engaging. Games are really intense, and the volley mechanic helps to keep things interesting. I never really had any issues with the other games as far as controls go, but I know that a few people are going to complain about how control schemes work out.

To keep things short and sweet, Mario Sports Mix maps a lot of actions to a small amount of buttons. You’ll mostly be using Wiimote wiggle and the A button. A few other games throw in mechanics that involve the Z trigger and B trigger, but you’ll never move away from A and Wiimote wiggle. Some gamers are going to be thrown off by the context-sensitive style of input. I know that I was surprised to see how many controls were mapped to such a small space, but it worked well for me. You just have to get over the idea in your own head, and some people won’t be able to get past that stumbling block.

I can also attest to how this control scheme works for a newcomer. I had one friend come over that is familiar with Wii, but she only ever plays games that use just the Wiimote. She gets quite scared when playing a game that involves the Nunchuk. She hasn’t really lead a life that involved playing games, so direct player control isn’t exactly her best attribute. With that said, she was able to play every single game in this collection. It took her a few minutes to figure out what did what, but she definitely got the hang of it. When I asked her how she felt about the controls, she said that things actually were much easier than she thought they would be. Seeing the controls via the tutorial mode had her nervous, but actually playing with them showed her how well they worked.

Now this is where the major fun comes through with Mario Sports Mix. This game is going to be a lot more fun if you have real-life friends that are going to play. Due to the nature of this review, I did not have the ability to play people online. I did have a chance to play locally with people, and I can tell you that we had an absolute blast. The simple nature of the games and the basic understanding of each sport lead to some great matches in all titles. I was laughing, screaming and giving high-fives the whole time I played. Much like Mario Strikers Charged, you can really get into this game with a group of friends. It’s also a game that you can bring out at parties over and over again.

Unlike Mario Strikers Charged, this isn’t a game that’s going to hold up well in single player situations. This has a lot to do with the computer controlled members of your team. You just can’t depend on them to do what you want them to. Whether your’re switching controlled players or not, you’re going to end up in situations where you lose because the computer just isn’t doing what it should be. The computer controlled characters aren’t going to match up with a real-life buddy. This is going to cause some very frustrating losses and anger-inducing moments. Quite honestly, if you’re only ever going to play Mario Sports Mix in a single-player situation, I’d have to suggest that you stay away.

The courts and arenas are a ton of fun, the mini-games and smaller variations on sports can provide some engaging situations and the familiar Nintendo faces always put a smile on your face. Again, all of this stuff is great if you have people to enjoy it with. Mario Sports Mix may not be a great game, but it’ll offer up great fun when you have people to play with. I definitely intend to keep this game in my rotation for a few months, as I know I’ll come across other friends that will be able to dig what this title offers. On top of that, the low barrier for controls should help to bring in players that don’t normally game. There’s a ton of fun to be had with Mario Sports Mix, but you need the right crowd to make that happen.

GoNintendo

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