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Mario and Sonic at the Winter Olympic Games

Being Mario makes it something for the younger ones but with all the instructions and preparations required before you can perform I feel that maybe they will lose interest before they get very far into the various available events.

The available Olympic events are Skiing, Skating, Snowboarding, Bobsleigh, Ice Hockey, Curling, Biathlon and of course Luge. While there are eight categories the total number of available events is actually 15 with variants.

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You can select the country you wish to be and various other attributes. You can play alone when the computer is your opponent or against a real competitor. I found the Curling perhaps the easiest to be able to compete in.

This is one of a range of Nintendo DS games that can be played wirelessly either at home or via a wireless hot spot. A 36 page booklet describes how to implement and use this feature. There is another 36 page instruction booklet for the game this shows the twenty possible characters you can be and their specialised area.

If the child takes the trouble to master the controls then I can see this being addictive, but initially most sports require work to compete. Rather like real life I just feel that children like to see a result rather than practice.

I can only find this available on the Woolworth site on this link, bundled with a DS Lite priced at £189 and including another game, Sonic Rush. I found it available separately for £35.49 from Amazon.

7 Wonders II from GSP

This is the now familiar format from GSP. Solve puzzles of various types to proceed in the game. The various picture screens are very good quality given the screen of a Nintendo. The initial screen is full of runes that need to be manipulated to remove to find parts of the map.

Keen eyes are needed to see - and take advantage of - special characters to help in the removal, once beyond this level you advance to different countries and if you have not yet grasped the object the clue is in title of the game.

So question one, what are where are the seven wonders of the world after playing this your child will know. You can find the answer to my question on page 11 of the 20 page instruction booklet. Mind you that will not really help to solve the puzzle.

Between each section of the game you need to build that particular wonder and the number of blocks you have to do it with depends on how you did in the preceding level. The help screens within the game inform you of what you need to do and also give tips on how to do it.

To me this game is fun, has good graphics and dare I saw it educational, what used to be called edutainment a few years ago.

Available from the link below for £19.99

http://www.avanquest.com/UK/software/7-wonders-ii-ds-132621