WiiNintendo

I’ve been playing Mario Strikers: Charged since Friday (3 days ago). I figured I’d write some of my thoughts on the game.

First thing is first, Online Gameplay! Let me just tell you, it’s intense! After a bunch of server glitches early on, it’s been up and running pretty flawlessly, no lag, no disconnects. My first experience online was with a WiiNintendo.net forum member. We arranged the match in the forum and then played it out. I narrowly won the 3 game series (2-1). After the match my hands were sweaty, numb, and my heart was pounding. The whole experience was intense and really fun.

Before I went online all I did was go through the 10 tutorial lessons, so I was a rookie in every sense of the term. During training, you learn how to do all of your moves. The one that has the most devasting effect is the “Super Strick”, where as the goalie you have to aim your Wiimote at the screen and “shoot down” the incoming balls. If you’re good at FPS or Wii Play Shooting Range, you can usually block them all.  The biggest difference when you’re online (or playing a human) is the insanely fast pace and the difficulty in getting a power shot off.

Instead of a review, I’ll just sum the game up and give you my first impressions:

- Very fast paced
- Extremley difficult at times, but for some reason I could never give up
- Addictive (see above)
- You play in multiple “Cups” in tournament fashion.  Top 4 teams (out of 10 games) go into the finals, where it is elimination mode.
- Uses friend codes which hook up with you Mii as your avatar
- Tons of special abilities depending on your character
- Controls (wiimote) work well
- My friends who are PS2 FIFA junkies, picked it up real quick and loved it.

As of right now the game is getting a 76/100 on MetaCritic, here are some reviews:

EuroGamer:
As the most original, admittedly surreal, take on the sport for years, Mario Strikers is a gem of a game and manages to flawlessly meet Nintendo’s brief of appealing to absolutely everybody.

NGamer UK:
Short of game modes, reliant on powerups, sweatily frustrating at times. But it exerts a strange pull that will draw you back in, assuming you haven’t smashed your remote.

CVG:
Shallow and frequently frustrating but the fast-paced gameplay makes for a fun multiplayer experience.  

Play Mario Strikers with our Forum Members, HERE