One of the most SURPRISINGLY FUN games I have ever played!
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It's time for the Mario Strikers Charged review! For the Wii!
This is the first Mario sports game I've ever played, and was actually the last Mario sports game I ever thought to play. This is because the game is soccer. Now I do enjoy playing soccer for real, but I've never been interested in watching it, or playing it on a video game, so that's why I thought Mario Strikers Charged, or even the original, Super Mario Strikers would be the last type of Mario game I'd ever play. But now that I've played Charged, let's see how it turned out.
This game is about playing soccer with Mario characters, only this soccer game is nothing like a regular match! There are several ways of playing Charged. Domination mode is basically one, or several if you choose, exhibition games, that you can play by yourself, or with up to three other friends in co-op or against matches. As you'll start out, you'll set the difficulty level, the amount of games in a series, and whether you want a timed match, or a goal limit. Both are fun, but I found the goal limit type was a much more fun choice. After that, you get to pick your captains and sidekicks. The captains are the main Mario stars, like Luigi, Peach, Bowser, and of course, Mario. The sidekicks are the secondary characters from Mario games, like Toad, Birdo, Koopa etc…
You don't get to choose a goalie, because Kritters from Donkey Kong act as the goalies for both teams.
Each character, whether captain or sidekick have their own stats, like shooting or defense. For me, I liked fast captains the best, so I usually went with Peach, Daisy, or Waluigi. With sidekicks, I liked to mix and match different characters with different stats. So after you create both teams, it's time to play on one of many different fields.
To move, you'll use the analog stick on the Nunchuck. To shoot the ball, press the B button, and pass with the A button. To steal the ball, get next to your opponent and press the down button on the D-pad. To hit someone, get next to your opponent and flick the Wiimote. These controls are great, but when you first start out, you might get confused which button does what. And that's not just me saying that, both my siblings agree that it can be a bit confusing, in the beginning. After a while, it's no problem.
As you're playing, you can use your characters to perform special moves. When you're in your opponents half of the field, and you have the ball, you can hold down the B button for a certain amount of time, and, if nobody hits you or steals the ball, your characters will perform their own unique shot. All of the sidekicks have their own style that usually relates to them. Like Boo will disappear with the ball, or the hammer bro will throw his hammers at his opponents, then shoot the ball. I'd say hammer bro is THE cheapest sidekick in the game, but since we all use him all the time, I guess it evens it up.
Now the captain's special shot is different than the sidekicks. It's called a megastrike. Like the sidekicks, hold down the B button for a bit, but instead of kicking the ball, a meter will appear where you have to quickly press B at the right times, to set the number of balls and at which speed you will shoot them at the goal.
Each captain, like the sidekicks, have their own unique way of shooting the ball, but it's the same objective. No megastrike is better than the other. But you have to admit, it looks freaking awesome! My favorite megastrike is Bowsers'! Oh yeah!
So that's how you perform a megastrike, but what if the opposing captain does it to you? Well, to block it, you're put into the goalie's view and you have to use the Wiimote to point at the screen, and then press A to block the balls. Usually it's pretty easy, but when the opposing team gets the meter in the orange section, you better have good reflexes!
Within the game, you'll receive items which can help you out, like koopa shells and banana's. Some items are only for the captains to use. Like Mario and Luigi will grow to a super size, or like Bowser can breathe fire. These items are sometimes obtained when you shoot the ball, but usually when an opponent steals the ball from you, or hits you when you don't even have the ball. To use items, press the C button.
The graphics are great! I don't know what it is about it, but this Mario game seems a bit more…dark, than other Mario games. Plus, I noticed the characters have bit more spunk, which was really nice! This is probably due to the developers at Next Level Games. I wish Nintendo would hire them more often! Good job guys!
In a different mode, the whole point is to work your way through a series of matches, until you win the final match, where you will win a certain cup. The first cup is pretty easy, I mean look at that…23-0. Anyway, the later cups do become harder. Winning a cup will earn you new stages and characters.
In Striker Challenges, you're put in a certain scenario where if you win, you will be awarded with cheats and player cards.
There is an online mode where you can play against other players. There was a feature in the online mode that I really liked. Whenever you found a person, it would tell you how powerful your connection was from 1-4 stars, and you could choose to accept or deny the match. It was no surprise that all my matches were one star, and most people wouldn't even accept playing against me. But there was one brave soul who took on my challenge…yeah…even though it had lag, it was still playable. Too bad my internet connection SUCKS, because the match only lasted about one minute, and I was disconnected. I don't know if it was the other player who disconnected me, or if it was just my awesome internet speed itself…or…maybe both. But anyway, I can tell that online mode is really fun…I wonder if I'll ever get to play a decent match, until then, I'll just keep on wishing...
Mario Strikers Charged is a fantastic game! Great graphics and presentation, great controls, when you get used to them, pretty smart A.I. for both teams, and fun, addictive, strategic gameplay! I can't really tell you if the online mode was good or not, but I'm 99.99% sure it's awesome! I've checked online message boards and most people say it's very fun!
The only downsides that I found were one, like I said, the controls may take some getting used to, but after a while they're no problem. And two, I thought the loading times took a bit too long.
But overall, it's still a very fun game! Sometimes I just can't put it down because of how much fun I'm having! If you like soccer video games, and wouldn't mind wacky twists and turns throughout the matches, you should definitely check this game out! I'm so glad I got the chance to review this game! It's one of the most surprisingly fun games I've ever played!
This game gets a 4.5/5 with the title of EPIC!!!
Ratings:
0-1.5=Total Crap!
1.75-2.5=Bad
2.75-3.5=Good
3.75-4.25=Awesome!
4.5-5=EPIC!!!