A few months back I was playing Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, which is a damn fine game by the way, yet I got tired of it. I needed a fast paced sports game that could entertain me for a while. Then I remembered about a game for the Gamecube titled Super Mario Strikers; it's basically soccer on steroids with Mario characters. Naturally, I had to pick up the Wii version of this game, and damn...it did not disappoint.
This isn't FIFA, by any stretch of the imagination. Let's just get that notion out of the way right now. In fact, it is never referred to as soccer, they have "Kritters" not goalies, and they don't use a soccer ball - it's called a striker ball. What is addicting about this game is the arcade-esque game play. Games are so fast paced and hard hitting, you have to really be on your game to win matches. I'll try to explain the basic concepts: first off, it's called "Charged" because they added a charging concept from the Gamecube version. The best way to score is to continually pass the ball around to your teammates and, subsequently, charge the ball; when the ball turns to a bright white color, a shot will be faster, harder, and have a higher success rate to beat the Kritter. There is also a new charge system for each character. Sidekick character (I'll explain in a bit) will use a specific skill shot that will have a high success rate of scoring, or incapacitate the Kritter, making a rebound score easier. Captain characters, however, use a Mega Shot as their charge shot. The Mega Shot is based off of a meter (similar to the old Madden Football kicking meters) where the power, or amount of balls shot, is measure followed by the accuracy and speed. It can be a huge game breaker because a player can score up to 6 goals with one shot. WHOA!
Let me quickly touch on the side kick characters, including Koopa, Dry Bones, Shy Guy, Birdo, Monty Mole, Hammer Bros., Boo, and Toad. Each character has specific traits, for example, Koopa is a balanced character: he is quick, has an average shot and his skill shot will incapacitate anyone who gets in the way. Hammer Bros., however, is slower but has a devastating shot ability and if his skill shot is done at a reasonably short distance from the goal, it will be an automatic score. A team is made up of 4 players, with the ability to completely customize the 3 sidekick characters.
Now, for the captain characters. Those are Mario, Luigi, Bowser, Bowser Jr., DK, Petey Pirahnna, Daisy, Peach, Diddy Kong, Yoshi, Wario, and Waluigi. Each character, as mentioned, does a Mega Shot for their charged shot. However, each character can acquire a special ability that can open up the game just as much. Mario, for example, will become giant and crush everyone around him. DK uses a thunderous crush to knock back any player around him. While Wario...well, Wario farts.
To...victory?
The game, for the most part is fun, furious, and fast paced. However, there is an issue with the game: the frustrating difficulty. When playing the campaign mode on the normal setting, you will completely demolish the opponents in the first two cup tournaments. The third cup...not so much. Not necessarily because the game is hard, but because at points in the game, the computer decides you aren't winning. I don't care what you do, how good you are...you're going to lose. Think, Madden franchise mode when you are 13-0 and the game decides that you can't go undefeated and stone walls you on every play. Except this is a fast paced game, and with only 3 minute matches, it can get out of game very quickly. This is a big problem, if only because it can put many people off from the game. But I fought through all the annoying playoff rounds (in which, if you lose, you have to re-do the entire season to qualify for the tourney again) and finally won. The only downside? After beating it on the Expert mode, the game rewards you with nothing more than the 3 unlockable characters (Diddy, Petey, and Bowser Jr.) that you can unlock on Normal mode. I guess I just wanted the bragging rights.
Anyway, let me wrap this up because I feel it went on too long. Let me just say that you need to play this game with some buddies, or get good and play online (yeah...it works online and it's fun). It's a great fast paced sports game that will entertain you for quite a while. Pick it up, by now it's a really cheap title. Now if you'll excuse me...I gotta go finish playing with my Wii.
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