Mario Strikers Charged (Wii) Review
Posted by Morakoth Tang on 09.18.2007
He shoots...but does he score? Lets find out if Mario and friends scores a goal on this updated version of Mario Strikers.
Title: Mario Strikers Charged
Type: Sports
Publisher: Nintendo
Players 4
If it’s a soccer game you’re looking for, please go else where. Mario Strikers Charged is everything else but a traditional soccer. The first Mario Strikers truly was fun and I whooped many people’s butt; however, this new online thing has me walking away rubbing my own…join me in this 411 review to see if Mario Strikers Charged is up to purchasing standards!
Graphics:
I popped in Super Mario Strikers for the Gamecube recently and played a few games before digging into Mario Strikers Charged. Thus far I haven’t noticed great changes in poly count for the characters; however, I notice the difference in particle effects and lighting and art direction. The game looks cleaner and all around more polished. The development team took sometime to clean up the art and it shows. The animations in game are pretty smooth but there were some were it was…um…not kid friendly for some of the characters. For instance Waluigi does a pelvic thrust, resembling “Generation DX” from the WWF and Daily licks her finger and cools it on her butt. I have no complaints here, I’m just mentioning it here and giving any parents reading a quick warning. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not too explicit or offensive I just find it much different than what Mario animations are accustomed to. While we are talking about animation, the characters don’t have any lip or mouth movement during the intro cut scenes where they have lines. It looked like Power Rangers in Mario character outfits. They were bad and kind of creepy for the most part. Other than these complaints I think the graphics are a good improvement over its predecessors.
Game Play:
Mario Strikers Charged fixed a lot the complaints I had with the first title. The one I would like to point out first and foremost is the uniqueness of the teammates. In the first title, you were able to choose your team member, but the option locked your choice for the rest of the supporting cast as well. For instance if you chose a Koopa Troopa as your teammate, the rest of your teammates would be Koopa Troopas as well. In Strikers Charged, all this is rectified. Every one of your teammates can be chosen. If you wanted a Hammer Head Bro, with a Boo and a toad, that would be no problem. Each teammate has their own special supporting ability. For instance, the Hammer Head Bros are offensive types, while the Koopa Troopas are geared for a balance play type. This modification of your team brings out a great deal of flexibility, experimentation and reliability. Now you’re probably asking, “So does it take advantage of the Wii’s capabilities or what?” The answer to that my fellow Strikers is yes! There are super goals now that takes advantage of the Wii Remotes pointer device. The Super Goals are goal shots that can only be done by your team captain. It’s basically performed if they can pull off a charged shot, almost in the same manner it was done in the previous game. Once the charge shot is performed the goalie of the defending player has to block all the shoots by pointing at the flying soccer balls randomly appearing on screen. There are usually 4-6 shots that the goalie would have to block. It’s a fun opportunity and adds to the intensity of the game. Failing to block shots now are no longer blamed on stupid AI or faulty luck, rather it’s the player’s fault and that’s a good design. When you beat your friends, they can’t toss the blame and yell the loser excuse of, “Stupid AI!!!” Now let’s talk about the WI-FI capabilities. Yes Pokemon was the actual first Nintendo game to offer the Wi-Fi experience, but I don’t consider it a real full Wi-Fi game, unless you’ve been playing and transferring all your Pokemons from the DS. To me, Striker takes the honor of being the first solid Nintendo Wi-Fi capable game. Much like how the DS operated with Friend Codes Strikers will put you through the same insanity of punching them in. In all honesty after this is done its smooth sailing, connecting with friends is easy and fun. Invites however are much different from the way Xbox Live works. You can only invite friends that are currently playing the game. This is kind of a downer, but once you’re connected with a buddy it’s a good experience. I nearly forgot to mention that the one thing that is lacking during play is the inability to talk smack to your buddy. VOIP was no where to be found. The inability to chat while playing is a huge handicap in enjoyment when playing with friends from afar. Moving on, the connection during play was solid, I barely noticed any lag nor was there any disconnection during my matches. I have much hope for future Nintendo Wi-Fi games. Strikers connectivity is a good first attempt, and it works for the time being.
Sound:
Strikers’ soundtrack is funky. Techno crazy dance beat music plays during the front end of the game. It’s totally not Mario or anything related to the Mario universe. There nothing wrong with that, but I expected it to have some type of Mario like upbeat fast soundtrack. The in game sound is however much more familiar and inline with the Mario universe. The funny squealing and yelling of the players when they get hit or knocked into the electric fence brings the silliness back into the game. The sound effects of the kicked ball, turtle shell launching at Toads, and the crowd cheering your character’s name all make for a great sound presentation. It’s rather funny and adrenaline building when you’re kicking your opponents butt, and then hearing the crowd cheering your characters name bring it over the top. It’s like rubbing their defeat all over their face. Over all strikers has a fun and awesome sound presentation.
Lasting Appeal:
Strikers is a fun game and you could easily spend hours playing it, but I must admit that the solo experience is short. You’ll play the different difficulties, win the different cups then after all that you’ll want more, but there’s nothing left. All has been conquered you said…well good thing there’s multiplayer goodness. As everyone knows Mario spin off games always shine during multiplayer; Strikers is no exception. Local multiplayer supports four players and trusts me, it’s worth it to round up four of your closest friends and slide tackle each other until your wrists goes numb. The price of stomping our buddies with an overgrown Mario while screaming OWNT! is second to none. And if you can’t find those busy friends of yours, you can jump online and easily find a victim to throw your shells at. The Wi-Fi capabilities are great and add a great deal of replay value.
Fun Factor:
Mario Strikers have many layers of fun. The experimentation while selecting your teammates is satisfying. Trying to find the right combination for the perfect team is exciting, but the fun is putting your newly crafted team to the test. Will they fail or will they win, it’ll be up to you. The Wii controls add another dimension of fun. As I wrote earlier, losing sucks especially if it’s your AI’s fault. Now losing is almost solely dependent on your hand to eye coordination. Blocking those supers is indeed fun and gets your adrenaline running. And as always the multiplayer game is awesome and fun, more fun locally I must admit than it is online only due to the lack of VOIP.
The 411:
My 411 readers go out and get this title. Mario Strikers Charge is worth every penny. Not only is this game the first online Nintendo Wii game, but it’s revamped art and game design made the game more complete. The lack of VOIP for online play is a bit of a let down, but the online play itself is fluid and easy to navigate. The sound in game is solid and brings a lot of life to the game. The solo experience is pretty short as with other sport games, so the multiplayer Wi-Fi capability gives it the extra mileage. I’m excited to see what the next round of Nintendo Wi-Fi games have to offer.
Graphics
7.5
The new art is clean and the characters look great, but the lack of lip-syncing is unacceptable.
Gameplay
8.5
The game design changes from the previous game such as customizing your team adds great depth to the game, and the Wii remote is a fun addition.
Sound
7.5
The music is not tradition Mario, but the in game sound is great.
Lasting Appeal
9.0
Wi-Fi and Local multiplayer is awesome
Fun Factor
9.0
Yes most definitely the game is fun. New power ups and Wii Remote functionality!
