Mario Strikers:Charged
Right when I started up this game and saw Mario with a fierce expression of rage, fully clad in battle armor, dive-bombing from the sky ready to kick Bowser’s ass while a guitar was wailing in the background, I knew that this was the kind of Mario that I had been waiting for.
In the past, I have understood Nintendo’s apprehension with trying to make their games more appealing to the “Mature” audience (which in this case means people who will avoid a fun game if it does not have blood or gore, which ironically, makes them immature) because of the raping of certain other franchises, (*cough* SonicandBomberman *cough*) but sometimes it seems that they make their characters overtly happy and cute, just to stay on the super safe side. In the end, this just causes many of us gamers over the age of five to wonder if the characters we grew up had gotten a lobotomy somewhere along the line. That is why I thank God that Next Level games took the risk in putting their own style onto the Strikers franchise. In making the Mario characters tough and competitive, it puts a more realistic sense of challenge and urgency when playing the game.
If Mario was more freakin’ awesome here the internet would probably explode.
As for the game play itself, Next Level games has decided to evolve its game beyond that of simple arcadey soccer. In fact, it hardly seems like soccer anymore. The soccer ball has been replaced by an iron ball that “charges” every time someone passes or charges up a shot. The more a person charges and passes, the more the ball glows and the faster it rolls when it’s kicked. It’s almost impossible to score without charging the ball up at least a little, which makes regular shots obsolete. Also, every character, even the different support characters, have been given different “dekes”, which are moves that help shake off defenders either by dodging or hitting them with some part of their body. Many of the dodging dekes can be used to dodge the keeper altogether and just lets the character run into the goal, adding a whole new element to the game. Furthermore, every captain has a special item they can use which lets them use a special move characteristic of their character, like Donkey Kong smashing the ground and creating a shockwave or Wario farting and disorienting the opposing team. If you are worrying about the Wii controls, don’t. They are very intuitive and easy to use. There really isn’t much motion sensing used in the game except for having to shake the Wiimote when you want to tackle. Most of these additions should be seen as improvements, as it looks like Next Level has deigned to make Strikers into more than just Mario Soccer. Anyways, if you wanted a realistic soccer game, Strikers was never the place to go as even the first one was more simplified and arcadey.
The graphics are a little dissapointing, but c’mon, freakin’ craters and a 10-foot tall Mario!
The other major new feature is the online capability. After you sign online with your Mii, you can enter a ranked matchmaking service that pits you with another player looking to play. I don’t believe they match by rank, as I have played people in the top 100 and people ranked below 10000. The connection is pretty solid. I have played about 30 games over a few days, and I have not received many disconnections or laggy games that were caused by a bad connection, although I have heard of others complaining about the lag. There is also a friend roster where you can add your friends and challenge them whenever they are online. These features along with a leader board and changing seasons make for a comprehensive and fun online experience. One grudge I have is that the rank is based solely on points, which can be earned in victories or defeats, making a bad player who has more time to play often outranking more skilled players. Other than that, the online game play should be where one spends the most time in the game, as everything is already unlocked and it is where the competition is at its fiercest. Although the single-player is more robust, it should just be a place for you to get ready for the online play. The major addition is the event challenges, which places you in interesting scenarios that force you to rely on different skills. However if you have no internet connection, the single player can still offer you 15+ hours of game play with plenty to unlock. Unfortunately some of it is quite tedious, as each cup takes quite a long time to complete.
Strikers is only a must buy this year if you have only a Wii, are a big fan of the first Strikers (having a few friends that are fans doesn’t hurt either), or you are ridiculously rich. While I would love to see Next Level games make other Mario spin-offs in their unique style, Strikers: Charged will not appeal to everyone. Furthermore, due to the overabundance of A+++ titles this year, I would seriously plan ahead and see if you have the budget for the games coming ahead.
Freakin’ Awesome!! rating: 3.5 stars
