Mario, Luigi, and the rest of the gang are back and they’re ready for more domination on the soccer field! This sequel to Super Mario Strikers ups the ante to a new level of soccer games. Let the game begin!
First off, I must mention that people who own the original Mario Strikers game are going to be harder to convince to get this game since they own the original. The charged-up sequel is basically a remake of the first game, but with a few more fireworks added.
What made Super Mario Strikers known was its famed “Super Strike” which was a powerful shot that doubled your score from one point to two. Well, this game brought it back and with reinforcements. The “Mega Strike” includes a better cinematic shot and up to 6 points available. Every single time I used those shots, I wanted to sit back and enjoy the show, but I kept on realizing this was a VIDEO GAME not a movie. Also, the graphics need a shout out, because, the Wii is more known for its “cartoony” style of artwork, and “cartoony” only applies to the gameplay not necessarily the graphics.
Now it’s time to get into the game itself. Here’s how it goes down. First you pick which captain you want to be, in this case, the Mario star characters. Mario, Luigi, Peach, and others make the list, including an interesting choice, Bowser. I say this because Bowser was only in the game in the original when he was messing up players and the game as well. Nintendo made a smart move by putting Bowser in the standings, why? I found myself more often than not turning off the Bowser feature in the original game anyway. What a waste of graphics that was! A lot of people like being the fire-breathing King Koopa, anyways, whether he was Mario’s nemesis or not, it doesn’t matter to us.
The gameplay was confusing as well. I’m more used to a GameCube controller rather than a Wii controller and a Nunchuck. It doesn’t necessarily matter because you just have to get used to the new controls. Like riding a bike, you probably won’t forget how to play using those controls.
There are some new features that really make this game a very interesting game. One thing that I like about this one is the sidekicks. More sidekicks are in this game as well as new things about them. Choosing sidekicks is a little more complicated than that of the original game. You have to choose different people instead of a team of one person. For example, in the first game you picked your captain then your teammates, like Toads, Boos, or others. In this game, you pick your captain then pick the rest of your team, like this: I pick Luigi as my captain, and then I pick a Toad, a Monty Mole, a Birdo, and a Hammer Bro as my sidekicks. So, in this game, you really have to focus on who will do best on your team rather than whom you like best. Sidekicks also have their own, I like to call, “power strikes”, which are very similar to mega strikes, but on a smaller scale. Toad, for example, has a fire shot, or Birdo has an egg shot, or Dry Bones has an electric shell shot. This to me really balances out the gameplay in this installment. In the original, I always got my captain to do the super strikes and the sidekicks for less important shots. In this game, any character could be the hero. Also, there are more captains to unlock. I won’t tell who will join because I want the players of the game to be more surprised.
Captains have their own power-ups as well. Every so often, the captain charges up his power-up and then can use it in different situations. Waluigi can use his “Wall-uigi” move to block other people from coming his way and executing his mega strike. Others include Wario with his gas mask move, Mario’s Super Mario move, Peach’s Freeze Frame, Donkey Kong’s Thunder Slam, and other impressive moves.
Thankfully, there aren’t that many things to critique about the game’s appropriateness, gameplay, or other features except for one thing. When doing a Mega Strike with two people playing the game or you are on the end of the computer’s strike, you must execute a small mini-game to block the balls coming at you. The way to play is simple; you point your cursor at the balls coming at you and push A to block them. The problem with that is the transition between the actual game and the blocking mini-game. All you get are balls coming at you then a haze of red with balls coming at random speeds and stopping at different positions of the screen. This really confused me and will probably confuse you who haven’t played the game before. It’s really a matter of getting used to the whole situation after once or twice playing the game. Also, with the girl captains expose some midriff and leg on the body, so watch yourself.
All in all, the game was a stellar sequel to Super Mario Strikers. The game is exciting after getting used to everything after a while. But the reality is that the game is a lot like the original and really needs some consideration. I, personally, would wait until the game was like $30 to $35, I wouldn’t get it for $40 or $50 unless some buy one get one free or half-off deal was going on for used games. “Charged” gets 4 Mega Strikes out of 5.
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