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Mario
has been involved in
several sports
titles over the
years. Famously,
everyone’s favorite
husky plumber has
hit the hardwood,
the golf course, the
tennis court, and of
course the speedway
over the years. In
the latest Mario
title,
Mario
Sports Mix.
We see Mario and his
cohorts in action in
four different
sports; basketball,
hockey, volleyball,
and dodgeball. The
title isn’t the most
dynamic sports title
to hit the market,
but you’re sure to
get plenty of mutli-player
fun out of this
title in both online
and off with
Mario
Sports Mix.
The four sports
games on this title
are all really fun
to play through. You
can play with 2 on 2
or 3 on 3 with up to
4 user-controlled
characters. In
typical
Mario-fashion,
Nintendo and
developer Square-Enix
have kept the
formula pretty
simple for controls.
You can shake the
Wii remote to
pass/set, you hit a
button to shoot, and
you move around with
the nunchuck. All of
the controls for all
four sports were
thankfully kept very
simple making this
game easy for
everyone to
immediately pick up
and play.
The
controls are pretty
simple, and at it’s
core
Mario
Sports Mix
has four very basic
sports games to play
through, but in
typical Nintendo and
Mario fashion things
are spiced up with
upgrades, special
moves, turtle
shells, and other
power ups that can
change the momentum
and the outcome of
any game in the
blink of an eye.
It’s really cool to
see Bowser playing
defense with his
power ups in
basketball, and it’s
also incredibly cool
to see Diddy Kong
spike a perfect ball
in volleyball. The
power-ups that this
game provides are
really cool and just
like in a game like
Mario
Kart;
it changes the whole
dynamic of the game.
There are two basic
ways to play the
four sports. You can
play a simple
exhibition game or
you can play in a
full blown
tournament. You can
of course play
against local/online
competition in the
exhibition modes and
you can play alone
or with a friend in
the tournament mode.
The tournament modes
feature three
different levels for
each sport; Mushroom
Cup, Flower Cup, and
Star Cup….but we’ve
seen this before.
When you beat all
three levels in the
tournament you get
to play against a
very cool boss.
Mario
Sports Mix
is the perfect
winter game. When
it’s too cold or too
snowy to go outside
and play, this is a
great game that will
keep the kids
entertained and
still excited about
playing outside. I
love games that get
kids excited about
sports. This title
definitely does that
and it does it very
well. It’s not the
best Mario sports
title to be made,
but Nintendo doesn’t
put out a Mario
title that’s not
ready to be played
and enjoyed. They
didn’t do that with
this title either.
Mario
Sports Mix
is a mandatory title
to be picked up and
played on any
family’s game night.
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