The Good:

* Adventure mode makes good use of characters
* Decent variety of events
* Can play with up to four people from a single cartridge.

The Bad:

* Most event minigames are shallow and easy
* Uninteresting mission objectives in Adventure mode.

Two years ago, Mario and Sonic joined forces for the first time to compete at the Beijing Summer Olympics. The result was a middling collection of sports-themed minigames that failed to deliver on the potential of that once-forbidden union. Never ones to give up, Mario and Sonic have reunited to hit the slopes and skating rinks of Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Games. It offers a slightly more diverse and entertaining assortment of events than its predecessor, but it still falls well short of earning a medal.

Read the rest of the Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games review at gamespot.

No matter how old you are–you’ve probably seen or heard of the amazing Astro Boy in some form or another. Armed with finger lasers and handy-dandy red rocket boots, the lovable child robot will be flying onto the silver screen later this summer. High Voltage Software, the developer of The Conduit, is working on the video game adaption of the movie, so you can take to the skies and play as the young boy who has far too much firepower for his age. At the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con, we were able to meet with Cameron Rains, the producer of the game, to talk about Astro Boy and see how this action hero performs on the Nintendo Wii.

Astro Boy has been around since 1951, but in the upcoming movie/video game, the story will focus on how he came to be and finding acceptance. But in between all the drama, he’ll use his full arsenal of weapons (including butt machine guns) to try to save Metro City from the wicked President Stone and his robot army. One thing we noticed immediately was that Astro Boy was fully clothed in the game, whereas he’s usually parading around in superhero briefs and rocket boots.

Cameron talked about wanting to create a fun action platformer for fans and gamers alike, referring to developer Treasure and Astro Boy: Omega Factor as an example. Astro Boy for the Wii is in 2.5D, with 3D character models and environments but 2D-style gameplay. You’ll be side-scrolling like you would in a traditional platformer and will shoot enemies from the sky in the flying sections, which will be roughly 40 percent of the time. What’s great about the game is that there is drop-in, drop-out co-op play, so you can vanquish robotic minions with a buddy. It can get chaotic onscreen, especially during the flying segments, but it’s always more fun to go on an adventure to save the world with a friend.

The controls are easy to pick up because you’re basically moving around and firing. In typical HVS fashion, you can customize the controls to your style of play. There are motion controls as well, if you want them, but Cameron emphasized that the goal is for players to play with whatever feels the most comfortable to them and not be stuck with a default control scheme.

The story mode will take you on a six- to eight-hour adventure, but because Astro Boy can be upgraded with items that you find, chances are you won’t be able to fully deck him out by the end of your first run-through. There’s an arena mode, which was described to us as a round-based survival game in which you try to beat your high score, whether you’re playing solo or cooperatively.

Astro Boy retains his charm and appeal on the Wii, but that’s not hard to do considering how talented this android is. (Did we already mention butt machine guns?) He can fly, he can drill, he has arm cannons, and he can shoot lasers from his fingertips. See Astro Boy in action when he swoops onto the Wii, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, and Nintendo DS (by Art Co. Ltd.) on October 20.

Check out the source at GameSpot

Sonic is trading in his trademark speedy feet for a sweet convertible in the upcoming Sonic’s Sega All-Star Racing. Coming in early 2010 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, and Nintendo DS, the game is an arcade racer that stars more than 15 of Sega’s popular characters from the publisher’s long history. We had a chance to check out the game on the show floor of Comic-Con 2009.

The demo at the show featured two courses and four playable characters–the titular Sonic, Aiai from Super Monkey Ball, Amy Rose from the Sonic series, and Amigo from the Samba de Amigo games. The characters will have their own special vehicles, such as Sonic’s blue hot rod or Tails’ airplane. In addition, the characters will have their own special powers that will be activated at random during races. For instance, Sonic will temporarily transform into Super Sonic; Amy will have mallets she can use to bash her opponents with; Aiai will let loose with a torrent of monkey balls; and Amigo will form impromptu conga lines that any racer will be powerless to resist joining.

The special powers will give you a power advantage on the tracks, but they won’t be the only way of getting an upper hand. There will also be on-track pick-ups, such as homing missiles, land mines, Sonic shoes (for an extra boost of speed), and shields that will protect you from harm. Of course, you’ll have your own skill on the sticks to rely on, as well as the game’s simple controls–R2 (on the PS3 controller) to accelerate; L2 to brake and drift around corners (when combined with the gas button). Pulling off drifts and midair tricks (the latter executed with the R1 and L1 buttons) will earn you turbo boost as well.

All-Star racing will have more than 15 tracks available and feature locales inspired by Sega’s many games. The courses shown off in the demo were impressively large, featuring brilliant bright colors and a good amount of variety in layout–including massive spiraling corkscrew sections and huge jumps. Sega fans might get a kick out of the more nuanced nods to Sega classics, such as the bumpers that line certain parts of the track that are straight out of classic Sega games.

Clearly aimed at both the kart-racing crowd and nostalgic Sega fans, Sonic’s Sega All-Star Racing seems like it will be a good match for kids and parents alike. Look for more on the game in the coming months ahead of its release in February 2010.

Check out the source at GameSpot

Score: 8.5 / great

Get the full review at GameSpot

Score: 3.5 / bad

Get the full review at GameSpot