Mario Strikers Charged (Wii, 2007)

Mario Strikers Charged needs no introduction; the Wii-iteration is largely based on its Gamecube predecessor but takes this last-generation concept and its respective execution to a new level with increased interactivity, challenge, and connectivity, not to mention a myriad of graphical enhancements, new arenas, side-kicks, and Mushroom Kingdom madness that only the geniuses at Nintendo could provide! In a word, Strikers is brilliant; without question, it stands as one of the Wii's strongest first-party titles, one which gamers will undoubtedly enjoy throughout the duration of the innovative console's lifetime.

Graphically speaking, Strikers can be described as one of the Wii's most attractive - no, downright visually stunning - recent endeavors. With all of the PlayStation 2 software ports currently available on for the system, many gamers have grown disillusioned with the gaming world's publishing houses as well as with the Wii's allegedly 'inferior' graphical abilities (when compared to other next-gen consoles). Thankfully, Nintendo and Next Level games longtime toiled to ensure that Strikers defies this overarching criticism - the game is truly of next-generation make. Mario, Peach, Bowser, heck, the whole cartoon crowd, has never looked or moved better; animations are ridiculously smooth whilst textures are deep and high-resolution. Particle explosions, crowd movements, and lighting effects also aim to please, seeing as all of which have been pain-painstakingly developed so as to appear "wow-worthy" on-screen.

As far as gameplay goes, what makes Strikers a winner is Nintendo's unique ability to push a somewhat generic gaming genre (action sports) beyond its usual restrictions and in doing so, create a title as chaotic as it is frenzied fun to play! Acting as the Mario Kart for soccer, Strikers Charged takes an athletic core concept then radically reforms it into a surreal platformer/party/sporting experience. Matches are short and sweet, lasting just around three minutes time. During your 180 seconds of gameplay, innumerable obstacles (like flying cows, turtleshells, banana peels, bombs, chain-chomps, etc) explosions (lava rushes, artillery fire), special moves (ground-pounds, character enlargements, periods of momentary invincibility or increased agility), and environmental nuisances (think tornadoes and lightning) will plague your efforts to bring home a win. So much action occurs simultaneously that at times, one can hardly determine who's who and to where the ball has disappeared but within the confines of such confusion lies the heart of Strikers; the game is about as bombastic as athletics can get in a fantasy land where nothing is as it seems and little, if anything, goes according to plan.

Lastly, one cannot chronicle this game's successes without describing the microcosm that is the Strikers WiFi Community. Being one of the Wii's first truly "online" gaming titles, users nationwide (the game currently restricts international play) can compete against each other in live, lag-free internet-based matches. The WiFi configuration is especially intuitive and takes less than a minute to auto-select a rival gamer, confirm settings, and launch the match. For online gamers, this is nothing less than unbridled bliss~

If you hold even an acute interest in Mario-based gaming, buy this title; if you somewhat enjoy online gaming, buy this title; heck, even if you customarily loathe sports games, buy this title.

You truly will not be

I gave this game a four out of five for a few reasons.
The good
1. Some good sides are that the gameplay is very fast and highly addictive.
2. The wi-fi gameplay is super exciting, even if you are the worst player ever.
3. It's like trouble, the game of sweet revenge. Get knocked down, do the same to them later.
The bad
1. The music seemes fun at first, but then it is surely annoying if left on for a while.
2. Most people on wi-fi are extremely hard. They seem to cheat when they really probably aren't (but they could).
3. When playing on the 'Road to the Striker Cup' mode (career), the cpu's can get really hard. You would have to do about 10 or 15 games over again. They last about 3 minutes.
4. On wi-fi, when you try to use a megastrike, it's very hard to get even a bad one. To score is nearly impossible. When they do it, they usually execute it perfectly and are super hard to block.
5. The motion-detector thing seems to fail a lot.
6. On wi-fi, if you or the other person has bad connection with the internet, it will not be a pleasant experience at all. It will be very pixely. For example, if you are on one side of the field, in 2 or 3 seconds, without seeing you moving, you will be on the other side.
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Although there were more bad then good, most of it was wi-fi bad. My rank for wi-fi for this game is ***(three stars). It is a great gift to buy for young ones or any mario fanatics. How many do you think they will make,I mean really.

I hope you enjoyed my review. Ask me for any further questions about the game and if you should buy it or not. I will be making a guide soon about this, so keep intact.

This is a great game for all!
I am a life long gamer and this game is deep enough to keep even the most intense gamers interested. However, that is if you are playing with friends who are equally as good. The game features an online mode which I have yet to try (The PS3 and Wii online community and setup doesn't compare to X-Box Live). If you are a big time gamer and you are looking to play alone, this might not interest you. The game is great for children as well. Like most games from the Mario series, the game does not contain and blood or sexual images (unless one considers Peach and Daisy sex icons). It is simple and friendly enough to keep children hooked. As this is not a new release, you are able to find very acceptable deals on E-bay.
I hope this helps! Thanks.

First things first then, if you're at all familiar with the original 'Cube Strikers title you'll be instantly at home with this Wii offering. From a basic perspective this sequel plays much the same as its forebear. However, Nintendo and developer Next Level have really worked to shape the original formula into a much deeper, far more satisfying game this time around.

That's evident right from the off, with Mario Strikers' menu screen stuffed with various better-defined modes and options. For single-player games there's the Road to Striker Cup tournaments and Striker Challenges, with multiplayer matches making use of Domination mode alongside Nintendo's much-touted inaugural online console offering. There's even a Hall of Fame tracking your various achievements as your shooting skills increase with play.

When I bought Mario Strikers Charged for the Wii I was impressed by the gameplay. It is an excellent game with many cool features. The ability to pick a variety of sidekicks and team captains is cool. The tournament play adds a fun element to the game. Also the Strikers 101 feature allows you to learn the abilities and concepts of the game.

The Wii Internet play feature is also cool. You get to play thousands of different people online. This requires a high speed internet connection (the Wii has built-in Wifi) and a Wii Internet Connection block that is purchased through WiiShop.

The only complaint I have is that there is alot of repetition in tournament play. There is alot of playing the same captain twice or three times. I would like it better if there was only one game against each captain. That would make it less repetitive.