Mario Strikers Charged Football (Wii) Review
For many, Mario Strikers Charged Football (Strikers from here on in) was not the ideal first Mario titled to be released on the Wii. Its no surprise that Super Mario Galaxy would be the more popular Mario flagship title for the Wii, considering the mass anticipation Galaxy has been building steadily. This isnt the case though, and our first taste of Mario and co. for the Wii comes in the form of a soccer game. Well, at least it resembles a soccer game.
Like many Nintendo related takes on popular sports, Strikers doesnt equate to a 100% accurate representation of the worldwide game of soccer (I wont call it football in Australia!). In fact, apart from the basic activities of passing the ball around to a few teammates with the aim of kicking the ball into a net, Strikers barely resembles the game of soccer. This isnt a bad thing though, and few of us expected otherwise. I mean, what do you expect from a game whose characters include monkeys, plumbers, turtles, moles, and even ghosts? If you expected a crazy and outrageous take on the game of soccer, than youd be right.
The basic premise of Strikers is a game of soccer, but theres so much more too Strikers than meets the eye. The very rules of soccer have been thrown away in favour of a no-hold-bar soccer match where clever strategic planning and brute force do you much better than foot skills. An important part of the game is selecting a captain from a number of famous Nintendo characters (i.e., Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, ect), as each have certain abilities and strengths/weaknesses. For example, Bowser is slow but strong and Mario is a good all-rounder. After choosing a captain, you pick three sidekicks to complete the rest of your team. There are a number of sidekicks to choose from, and they also have their advantages and disadvantages. This means you have to carefully consider your choices, as certain combinations of captain plus sidekicks will be more suited to your style of play than others. There are hundreds of combinations of possible team lineups to explore, so it will take you a while until you find a combination that works the best for you.
Playing the game is quite simplified, as expected in a Nintendo sports title. Passing, shooting, bumping, sliding, dodging and lobbing the ball are the basic, universal skills involved in the game. You control the four characters on your team and pass it around, avoiding the opposition until you have a chance to shoot for goal. Sounds simple – and it is – however, theres more to the game than this. Each captain has the ability to perform a mega strike by charging up before shooting. Upon charging up, an icon will appear on screen resembling a speedometer with a moving line that you must stop on just right areas. A successful mega strike will result in an animated sequence where your captain flies high into the sky and unleashes a barrage of balls (up to six) at the goals. It is then up to the opposition player to stop the goals, using the Wii-mote if youre playing a human character. The animations are over the top but look great, and pulling of a mega strike is always a highlight. Each sidekick also has a special ability, which can be executed by charging up when shooting at goal. For example, the hammer brother character will throw several hammers at the goalie, briefly knocking him out, before shooting at goal. Toad will shoot a flaming ball that will cause the goalie to be incapacitated for brief moment whilst his hands are on fire.
If all this doesnt sound crazy enough, then the addition of items ala Mario Kart will surely convince you of Strikers insanity. Items such as shells, bananas, and stars can be used to help you in your desire for domination. You will receive items for doing various things during the match (such as being tackled) and you can use the items with the simple press of a button. Each captain has a special item too, such as Marios ability to turn into Super Mario and Bowsers Fire breath. With mega strikes, sidekick abilities, items, and captain only items in the game, you end up with a crazy experience that can be overwhelming at times, but with experience and practice, you become to realise just how fantastic it is. Its simple on one hand, but theres so much going on at times that you lose track of what youre doing. But as I said, with continued practice, youll be a pro in no time.
Strikers includes several different game modes to keep you busy. Domination mode is your basic mode where you can play a game with up to 4 friends or against a cpu controlled character, with co-operative play if you desire. Choose your settings such as difficulty, length of game series, length of game (in minutes or goals scored) and proceed to team selection, level selection, and than youre set. Road to the Strikers Cup is the main single player mode, where you choose your team and play in a cup which involves several rounds of group matches, an elimination round and lastly the final series which you hopefully will have made it to. There are 3 cups to compete in, and completing each will open up new characters and levels. The Strikers Challenges mode has a certain challenge for each character such as winning a game by more than 5 goals. Completing these will aware you a player card plus open up cheats for you to use in the game. Strikers ABC is a tutorial mode which teachers you the basics of the game.
Perhaps the most exciting mode in the game in the Nintendo Wi-Fi connection mode, which allows you to play against friends you have added or against random people from within Australia and New Zealand. Ive had several online matches and each has run pretty smoothly with a little bit of lag noticeable in some. Playing against random people (ranked match) awards you a different amount of points depending on how you do. After the match, you can return to the central online hub to see how you compare to your fellow Striker owners. For more detailed impressions of the online mode, please follow this link
Strikers also offer a good selection of levels, including some classic ones from the Gamecube Mario Football title. The levels are quite varied too, some being more basic whilst others offer environmental hazards to deal with. As if things werent crazy enough without a cow flying past during the match. The levels, like the rest of the game, look pretty impressive from a visual standpoint. Though the game is no PS3 game visually, it is at least pleasing to note that it is superior to the Gamecube version, which is expected of the Wii. The cut scenes are particular pretty, and the bright, colourful palette used in the game is pleasant. In the aural department, the game has a fantastic and zany sound track with music inspired from many genres, including rock and even music that seems fitting for an 80s porno movie. For those who love clear, crisp sound, Strikers is also presented in Dolby Pro Logic II.
More important then anything is how the game plays, and thankfully, the gameplay absolutely rocks. The game works perfectly with the Wii-mote and nunchuck, and whilst the motion sensing has only been implemented minimally, it works perfectly. The game offers a decent single player mode, but with the addition of friends or the ability to jump online, the game truly rates as one of the best Wii titles yet. Its definitely not the game soccer enthusiast will savour, but those who want a bizarre but ultimately rewarding take on the game of soccer will be deeply satisfied. Its incredibly simple on one level, but it takes great skill and strategic planning to truly master the game. Theres a quality selection of characters, game modes, and levels, and as the first Wii online title, Strikers must be seen as a success. Strikers is not perfect by any means, and those people who are more single player orientated will get much less out of Strikers. For everybody else, Strikers should be heavily considered as another addition to their games library. At least give it a hire to see if its for you. Theres been a draught in quality Wii titles for a while now, but hopefully Strikers is the beginning of a long lineup of quality software titles.
