A Nice Chunk of Mario Sports Mix Play Footage

Posted on February 05 2011 by Nathanial Rumphol-Janc

Mario Sports Mix: it’s the first of Nintendo’s big games for the year in the West, and we feel we haven’t given it much attention. Thankfully, a couple guys on Giant Bomb tossed us a bone in the form of about twenty minutes of play footage. Check out a little bit of Dodgeball and Basketball action, plus a peek at a couple of the mini-game offerings. Our impressions below.

The game looks and plays similarly to Mario Strikers in the sense that it takes the sports it emulates and simplifies them tremendously. Of course, the fact that four sports are crammed onto one disc means that the games are even more stripped down. I’m not sure how excited I am about the fact that waggle controls have been placed into every sport, and handle key actions like shooting the ball or puck. However, there doesn’t look to be a response issue as is often the case with other games.

It’s hard to judge how “fun” play actually is – the creators of the video don’t seem too impressed – but it’s hard to tell since we only got a limited look at one of the lower difficulty levels. There was a noticeable difference in play dynamic when they cranked up the AI settings, so hopefully this game will be like Tennis and Strikers and offer a high energy challenge for more advanced players. (I don’t think I ever quite finished the secret cups in Tennis… I can say, however, that this game seems to do a pretty good job in the music department, especially for a sports game.

In the end, the only way to find out how good it is for sure is to give it a try, so check back here in the next few days to see my in-depth impressions of each sport, culminating in a full review at the end of the week.

Source: Giant Bomb