Review by wolverinefan

"The perfect rental"

I've passed on every Mario sports title in the past few generations of gaming. They just didn't interest me. However in the hopes to play every major exclusive on every console I decided to rent this one.

With some of the most vibrant color schemes to grace the Wii yet; Mario Strikers Charged looks really good. The fields each have their own theme from a landfill to a crater to a normal field and they all look good. Characters are easy to make out and the special moves look spiffy.

No classic Mario tunes this time around. Instead be get high energy filled tunes that just didn't please my ears. Not that they are bad or anything, just nothing special. Sound effects are nice with the zaps from the out of bounce lines to the thump of a stone. Voice work is included in the typical one liner sense but I really dislike the voices used in this game. They sounded a bit off as if new people were hired.

Control in the game took me a little while to get the hang of. You move around using the analog stick on the nun chuck. Z button lops the ball while the C button uses your special attack. A passes the ball while B shoots the ball. The d-pad is used to steal the ball. Wiimote controls kick in when trying to block a charged ball.

Only a few modes of play are available in this game. We have the cup mode which offers three cups to play in. They get more difficult as you go along but to be honest it's an AI problem as most of the time the AI seems D.O.A and then other times it feels like it's been zapped with electricity and some how pulls off some really flashy moves.

Next up is challenge mode which has you reliving classic moments in Mario Soccer. Sure it makes no sense but what does that matter. This mode has different challenges like scores X amount of goals, create specific scores, or just win.

There is also on-line play in the game and multiplayer. None of my friends wanted to play this game and I refuse to pay $30-$40 for an adaptor that should have been included with the console.

The game play itself is an adrenalin filled mad rush to score. The normal idea of soccer is here. Get the ball and kick it into the goal. However things have been spiced up with different hazards littering the different tracks and power ups like super size, electric kicks, teleporting, multiple red shell shots and a few others. These additions really keep you on your toes and they remind me of the Mega Man Soccer game back on the SNES.

Besides that we also get charged kicks which can score up to four times and they have a super flashy cut scene that isn't skippable. I found these easy to block as you just move the hands across the screen and hit A when it's on a ball. It just requires some fast reflexes.

My biggest problem with the game though is the lack of content. There are cards, trophies and new characters to unlock but with so little to unlock it almost isn't worth the effort. A rental should suffice when going for 100%.

Mario Strikers Charged is the perfect rental but it isn't worth the retail price. It's a fast sports game that never takes itself seriously and actually plays better than the past few Fifa titles. Rent, don't buy this title.

Story - N/A
Graphics: 9/10
Sound - 7/10
Control - 8/10
Game Play - 8/10
Replay Value - 6/10

Final Score - 7/10

Reviewer's Score: 7/10 | Originally Posted: 10/12/07

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

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