The concept of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games is possibly one of the most ludicrous in gaming - and that's no mean feat. Think about it for a moment - an obese plumber putting up a decent fight against the fastest hedgehog on the planet; it should be a walkover (or rather, a sprintover, I suppose). In fact, the second that Mario crossed the finish line ahead of Sonic in one of my first races, I was fully expecting him to be marched off for blood and urine testing to examine what sort of banned substances he had in his bloodstream! Instead however, he just cheered in his delightfully Italian stereotype way and collected his medal, while the blue hedgehog sulked. Despite this big hulking flaw in the premise though, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games has sold an incredible amount in the UK on Wii, prompting shortages and skyrocketing eBay prices (a staff member at a local store told me they were getting twenty-five phone calls a day asking if it was in stock while my other half was attempting to trade her copy). Now this run at the top of the all-formats chart list is set to continue as a result of this DS game - a reward the game regrettably doesn't really deserve.

The gameplay, in the traditional style of Olympics-based computer games, is essentially a selection of mini-games that requires a combination of skill, speed and good, old-fashioned button mashing. Unfortunately, like the Wii version before it, there's less of the former and a lot more of the latter two. In terms of the races, for example, you will find your speed controlled entirely by rubbing the stylus across the touch screen as fast as you can. True, I can't think of a better way of making a running game interesting (barring the Wii's take on it, which although better was still limited), but as this makes up a large part of the events, you have to consider if rubbing a stylus across a bit of plastic as if your life depended on it is your idea of fun.

As you'd expect from a mini-game selection, others fare considerably better. The archery, as with the Wii version, is an absolute delight, actually requiring skill and a bit of luck as you aim your bow and arrow on the board on the top screen, taking into account the wind and the arrow's natural tendency to loop downwards when fired. Likewise, the basketball hoops mini-game is fun; boasting a selection of power-up balls, you have to catch them with the stylus and toss them towards the touch screen where three hoops are moving around - get them through all three and your score goes through the roof.

Between these two extremes of mini-gaming pleasure and pain, you have the mediocre events that make up the majority, like the trampoline, which requires you to draw shapes quickly on the touch screen to make your avatar perform different poses in midair, the triple and long jumps (similar to the running events but with a stylus arrow drawn at the end to show trajectory) and a handful of 3D events that are controlled using the d-pad. These include 'dream race', which plays like a much s-l-o-w-e-r, poor man's Mario Kart (personally I think green shells aren't really in the spirit of the Beijing Olympics), canoeing (which again contains green shells and plays a bit like battle mode in Mario Kart) and cycling, which sees you hammering the L and R buttons on the DS and trying to run over power-ups that increase your stamina. If these events are beginning to blend into one then I've done my job to perfection, because that's exactly how the gameplay feels after an extended session. This isn't to say that the game is bad; it just doesn't stand up, like most mini-game collections, to prolonged scrutiny. In small doses it's mildly entertaining, throwaway fun, but it's every bit as shallow as you'd imagine.

The graphics in Mario & Sonic, in contrast to the gameplay, are pretty nice and reasonably varied. People often accuse the DS of being underpowered graphically, and while you'd struggle to call Mario & Sonic stunning, the characters are slightly above N64 standards and packing the usual charm you'd expect. The venues also look rather nice, but have to match up with the official stadia of this year's Olympics, making them feel slightly at odds with the characters and some of the events. It works both ways though - mushroom power-ups look ridiculous in Olympic events, but that's nothing compared to the sense of quiet unease that seeing an armed Mario in the Skeet shooting will provoke!

However, while the graphics are pretty good, the sound is little more than functional. Sega do seem to have some kind of monopoly on horribly cheesy voiceovers though - it's like they haven't learned from the GameGear's horribly tuneless "SEGAAAAA" every time you booted up. The tunes are forgettable (though not ear-crushingly horrible like they could have been) and the quips given to the characters are appropriate, though definitely not to everyone's taste. If I hear Sonic's horribly 'cool' American accent intoning "Leave it to me" one more time, my DS may be sent straight through a train carriage window.

The multiplayer (with single cart download play options, pleasingly) gives you access to a selection of games to play with three like-minded friends, and this improves the gameplay as you would expect. Playing against real people, with real banter, beats playing against the DS every time (although there is a certain satisfaction in wiping Tails' smug grin off his stupid fox-like face). One slightly odd area about the single cart play is the fact that, unlike the single player, it gives no explanation of the controls before you begin an event. This is fine for multi-cartridge play when there's an assumed familiarity with the game mechanics, but the whole point of single-cart play is to allow multiplayer for those who don't own, and are therefore unfamiliar with, the game. This resulted in my giving of a frantic explanation to a distinctly unimpressed friend; a bit of an oversight from Sega in that department. Once you know how the events work, there's some fun multiplayer to be had here, but at the same time the lack of variety ensures that this will never turn into anything more than the odd game when people finally get bored of wireless Mario Kart - especially as the single cartridge events sees you all playing your own round on your own screen - the only contact you have with the others is when their scores show up at the end of a round, which leads to a peculiarly detached feeling.

As I've already suggested, Mario & Sonic should not be played for extended periods, because its limitations will appear all the more obvious. But even if you do play in small doses, it really isn't long before the game loses its appeal. It does its utmost to try and entice you to keep on playing, with 360-style achievement 'badges' awarded for completing certain goals (not losing a point in table tennis, getting the gold in an event, playing multiplayer for the first time, etc.) but aside from some uninspiring unlockables, there seems little point with no unified system in place. Likewise, the events are so easy that you should be managing to get golds with very little effort after a few plays of each circuit, and even beating the world records is so stupidly easy that I personally managed to break a few on my first attempt. Mini-game collections have never been known for their longevity (aside from multiplayer at parties and gatherings) and while it's noble of Sega to attempt to offer added value with unlockables, badges and world records to beat, it's safe to say that the experiment has fallen flat - at least for this reviewer.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympics on the DS has turned out about as well as could be expected - which is to say, it's a pretty average and short-lived collection of immaculately presented mini-games that are shallower than a gnat's bidet. If you must have some sports themed mini-games then go for the Wii version every time - it's just as limited in many ways, but the novel controls and more accessible multiplayer give it the edge over this slightly more limited portable offering. Either way, with such a proud history, both Nintendo and Sega can (and should) do better than this when it comes to bringing Mario and Sonic together.

Reviewed by Alan Martin for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).