Ok, there's a first review on Gamepro. Not very insightful though. He writes maybe one or two sentences about gameplay, the rest is "hardcore vs. casual" blabber.

http://www.gamepro.com/nintendo/wii/games/reviews/145628.shtml

3.5 / 5 = 70%

Wow. That really is a useless review.

Agreed, that's possibly the worst non-joke review I've ever seen. It literally tells you nothing at all about what the game is like. All that we really find out is what personal biases the reviewer holds. (Hint: he doesn't like "casual" games.)

I played this heaps.

I don't care what anyone says about hardcore vs casual crap... I'm a hardcore gamer, but sometimes the casual games are more fun.

This is implemented really REALLY well, all of the sports in it use the Wii Remote very well, it actually takes some amount of skill to perform some of the actions.

It's surreal to see Mario and Sonic in a game together... worth a purchase just for that feeling.

I would recommend it to anyone who enjoyed Wii Sports.

8.5/10 from me.

IGN Review:

http://wii.ign.com/articles/833/833014p1.html


7.9 Overall

sounds like a solid game, great for multiplayer

Well that is good to hear. I had been a bit concerned on this title as there were no reviews for it out there. Now I just have to find time to play it this fall.

1up is up:
http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3164214

They are not very impressed (surprise, surprise): 6.0
What's odd is that they complain about it being too shallow, when at the same time they think many of the events are too complex. They dislike archery and table tennis, for example, while IGN points out these events as highlights.

As usual, Gamespot = 1up:

http://www.gamespot.com/wii/sports/mariosonicattheolympicgames/review.html?sid=6182587&om_act=convert&om_clk=multimodule&tag=multimodule;picks;title;2

6.0

I guess if nintendo are struggling to produce enough games (hardware), they're not going to need to spend money on marketing them.

I wish review sites had a seperate ratings system for more casual games.

We get it, reviewers are hardcore gamers... but could they help consumers work out which casual games are good, and which are average; rather than assuming everything based arround multiplayer minigames can only get a 7.

I think this is a game where you have to ask yourself: Did I enjoy Wii Sports? Do I want a "Wii Sports 2", but with 24 instead of 5 events, higher production values, a championship mode, rankings... and Mario+Sonic.

I'm not saying this is the best game there ever was (haven't played it yet, after all). But I think this is probably no worse than Wii Sports, actually it might be better. It just doesn't have the launch bonus (and even Wii Sports has an average of only 76% on Metacritic).