The Switch has been getting a lot of love from Nintendo recently and Mario and Sonic is the third of four big titles to drop on the platform in the last few months. Mario and Sonic really grew to fame back on the Wii in 2008 and its been a staple release for the current Nintendo console every four years since. The game is actually developed by Sega with character licenses from Nintendo which is why you may notice a few things look a little different. I personally hadn’t played a Mario and Sonic since the original one back in 2008 so I was pretty excited to get playing the new version! My Initial Thoughts were fairly positive so after playing for a few more days, what are my thoughts? Let’s find out!

Mario and Sonic at the Olympic games Tokyo 2020 (or Mario and Sonic for short) features a large number of Olympic disciplines, each of which feels pretty good in its own right. Some events such as football, and rugby, even stray close to the line of being a mini game that you could play regularly, not just as a party game. Some events such as the 100m sprint and hurdles are a bit simplistic for my liking however, they’re not the most complex sports in real life so I’m not sure what they could really do to make them more exciting in game. Alongside the selection of regular mini games, we also get a whole host of Tokyo 64 events which feature gorgeous retro aesthetics, amazing soundtracks and simplified gameplay. These events are packed full of charm although, they do have a few drawbacks and aren’t as fully fledged as their modern counterparts. Also making their way into the game this year are Dream events, these are based on real world sports but feature some unrealistic elements such as crazy courses, boosts and other unique gameplay twists. These are pretty fun and offer a bit of a break from the standard events however, they aren’t quite as repayable as I would have liked, still a great addition though nonetheless!

All events in the game can be accessed by a number of different core modes. Available to select at the main menu are Quick play, Story mode, local play and online play. To break down these modes a little then: Online and local are similar in that you will be connecting to other Switch users, Quick play allows for multiple users on one system to play through selected events and finally, Story mode is where youll find the main bulk of the games content. As far as the story goes, it sort of does the trick. With games like this, all I want from the story is for it to provide me with a guide/reason to play through the content in the game and the story mode within Mario and Sonic does exactly that. You get to meet a fair few characters along the way and much like the last big Switch release, Luigi plays a pretty big role. As you would expect, it’s the typical saving friends plot but as I said, its alright and it does to enough to warrant playing all the way through.

As far as the content and game as a whole, Mario and Sonic is a decent party game that features a large number of mini games. Its because of this, and its decent story mode that I would recommend it for families and gamers who have people round frequently. Its still fun to play on your own but it comes into its own when played with others and I genuinely believe that this will be a better party experience than Mario party. Definitely give it a go if youre looking for a new party game then or if you want something that gets you up and moving again without a sole fitness focus!

Grab a copy here - https://bit.ly/2rqwHhA