Deca Sports 2 and Mario & Sonic at the Winter Olympic Games

The Winter Olympics might be over, but you can still play the games.  This week I'll be trying out Deca Sports 2 and Mario & Sonic at the Winter Olympics, both for the Nintendo Wii.  Which one will take the gold?

Story

Neither game has a story.  So we're done here....well if you want you make up your own story you can since both games allow for using your own characters.  Mario and Sonic allows you to use your Mii, while Deca allows you to create your own team with their character builder.

Controls

While both games use different control schemes for each sport, Deca seemed to try to keep is controls closer to something you actually might be doing while doing the sport in real life.  For example, since both games have speed skating I'll use that.  In Mario & Sonic you use just the Wii-mote.  Shaking it at the start of the race and then moving it side to side in time with a light flashing from your character's hands. In Deca you use the Wii-mote and the nunchuk.  Moving both in time with meters on either side of your skater, mimicking their arm movements.

Both were easy to pick up, but I like Deca's closer to realism approach.

Gameplay

Both are basically mini-game collections.  Mario & Sonic let you play each sport individually, all from opening to closing ceremonies, or within a party game setting.  Deca also lets you play each sport individually, a League competition that includes all 10 sports, a Tournament where you knock out teams, or Challenge which is basically the party game setting also.

Both have Nintendo WiFi Connection, but Mario and Sonic only have it for leaderboards, no online play. On the other hand Deca has leaderboards too, but only 3 of it's games (tennis, hockey, and dodgeball) are playable online. 

Both games had a reward system.  In Deca you earn skill points.  The skill points are a bit like a leveling system in that the more you have the harder your computer opponents will be. Mario & Sonic rewards you with Star Points which can be used to unlock music, outfits for your Miis, stickers for your equipment, and Winter Olympic history and trivia.

 

  

Graphics and Sound

Graphically overall both were fine, but Mario & Sonic looked better to me.  It looked a bit crisper and cleaner.  Deca looked a bit last gen art style-wise.  While it's still a bit odd to hear Mario and Sonic sound coming from the same game it was all good.  Deca's audio was good too.

Overall

Both games were very fun, and really you can't go wrong with either if you are looking for a good mini-game collection.  Mario and Sonic is all about the winter games and includes 27 different games.  Deca on the other hand has 10 games, but only 3 of them are winter games.  I'd give both a 4 out of 5.  Which you want really depends on what you're looking for.  Mario & Sonic give you more games, but Deca has some games not found in any other collection.  Both were simple to control and easy to pick up, but to me Deca was more realistic.  Mario and Sonic has characters you know in love, Deca lets you create your own team.

Maybe you just get both.

Both games are rated E for Everyone.  Mario & Sonic also noted Mild Cartoon Violence.