Mario Strikers Charged

"Get it anyway."

Super Mario Strikers Charged is the sequel to the not-so-popular Mario Strikers for the Game Cube. Which I never played, so this isn't going to be a comparison review (I hate those anyway). So onto the actually review.

Mario Strikers Charged (MSC from here on) is the game of Soccer (football for all of you who don't live in the land of the setting sun) taken in the loosest terms. You have various characters from the ever-popular Mario games beating the stuffing out of each other all the while trying to get a metal ball into the goal. Of course, it wouldn't be a Mario game without mostly unfair power-ups and items ranging from Chain Chomps to bomb-ombs.

For those of you who love your Wii for all of the possibilities with the wiimote prepare to be disappointed. The only time that you'll ever use your wiimote's motion is when you swing it to tackle other players, and you can also swing the numchuck to switch items but these simple controls are fine. They work perfectly for this kind of game and the buttons couldn't be mapped better. Oh, and you also point in at the screen to block Megastrikes but more on that later. Now that I think about it, the Wii games that are counted as the best don't try to do anything crazy or overly complex with the wiimote. Anyway, back to MSC. In the game your team captain (Mario, Luigi, Bowser, ect.,) can pull off something called a Megastrike, which is where they become a really cool powered-up version of themselves and launch X amount of balls at the goalie. The opposing player must then point his/her wiimote at the screen and press the A button with the right timing, "catching" the balls. It's a fun little mini-game that fits in well with the frantic game play. Speaking of frantic game play, while the items and crazy stages might (usually) add to the fun sometimes you loose track of the ball and whoever your controlling in it.

The graphics could have been better. While some of the stages look nice and the Megastrikes look great it isn't anything that couldn't have been done on the Game Cube. Then again, the Wii is built for fun, not graphics.

The sound effects are good, and the music sets the mood well. Nothing worth mentioning but it does what it's meant to do well.

Now for the story.... basically, Mario and friends are in some kind of futuristic Soccer tournament. That's it. No real story line to talk about.

In conclusion, I'll say the same thing that I would say in a review for Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles and Luigi's Mansion if there weren't so many of them already. It might not be that good, but get it anyway. It's fun, enjoyable and you'll have some fun times with your friends in multi-player

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 12/26/08

Game Release: Mario Strikers Charged (US, 07/30/07)