| Game Reviews From a Parental Perspective! | |
|
|
|
| Home | Forums | Review Archive | Columns | Feature Articles |
|
Home >
Review Archive >
Video Games
> Results: Mario Strikers Charged
Format For Printing | Tell A Friend | Digg | Slashdot | del.icio.us | Buy This Game Scroll down for our Kid Factor. 
The ESRB says:
Mild Cartoon Violence: GamerDad tackled happy Mario characters, shoved them into electric fences, squished them, breathed fire on them, and other Road Runner style cartoon acts of violence. Crude Humor Wario attacks with farts. Mario Strikers Charged is a fast paced, fantasy arcade game of Wii soccer, charged up with new features improving on the GameCube classic. Pick a famous Nintendo character from the Super Mario Bros. series to be your team captain, like Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, or Bowser. The rest of your team consists of minor Mario characters such as Toad, Birdo, and the Hammer Bros. Each player has his or her own strengths and weaknesses, as well as unique special moves. Use the Wii remote and nunchuck attachment to play the game. Move players around with the analog stick on the nunchuck, and pass and shoot the ball with the A and B buttons on the remote. Shake the remote to tackle the player with the ball. Sidekicks and team captains have different special shots that help them get the ball past the goalie if you charge up the B button on the remote. For instance, the Hammer Bros. toss hammers to temporarily stun the goalie so they can get a free shot. Team captains have even more powerful charged up special shots that can send multiple balls to the goal. If you're on the receiving end to the onslaught, you'll play a mini game where you point the remote at the screen to block the barrage of balls coming at you. Block them all to keep the other team from scoring. As if that weren't enough, use the buttons on the nunchuck to activate the team captains' other special power out on the field, or use collected items like bouncing turtle shells or bombs to temporarily distract and thwart the other team's players. With all the power shots and destructive items strewn out on the field, Mario Strikers Charged is a hectic game of soccer! Play in a tournament to win trophies or try special challenges to unlock player cards and secret codes. Unfortunately, if you want to switch team captains in the tournament mode, you have to start the whole tournament over again. If the computer or nearby players don't provide enough of a challenge, you can also play online against people around the world. Playing against random strangers is easy and quick, provided you both have a good wireless connection. Playing with friends online is a little harder, as you both need to exchange friend codes that are different than the regular friend codes, and it takes a long time to connect. Graphics and sounds aren't much improved from the GameCube version. But it's still humorous to see the 'angrier' Mario characters play soccer. Normally demure Princess Peach has attitude, Bowser brandishes metal claws, and Donkey Kong punches the cameraman. Play control is a little tricky to learn at first, since the learning curve is so high. Soccer novices may want to practice up before playing, as the CPU difficulty level is pretty high and the online opponents are even worse. Plus with all the special items and powers all over the field, it can be a pretty hectic game to keep control of the ball. Mario Strikers Charged is a fun Wii game of soccer, but it's also pretty difficult and not much improved from the GameCube title.  
Kids will love playing 'extreme' soccer with their favorite Mario characters. While the game is a bit more violent than normal Mario fare with electric fences, tackles, and destructive weapons and attacks, it still falls solely in the "Road Runner Looney Tunes" style of cartoon violence. Playing online is relatively safe. The only objectionable thing one might come across is a player with a vulgar screen name, but I've never seen one yet myself. But like all online activities, parental supervision is still recommended. Reading skill is helpful, but not required, to play Mario Strikers. However, because of the difficulty of the game, only older kid gamers will get the most out of Mario Strikers Charged.
Comments? Chat about it in our forums! Format For Printing | Tell A Friend | Digg | Slashdot | del.icio.us | Buy This Game Home > Review Archive > Video Games > Results: Mario Strikers Charged |
Read the GamerDad 2007 Holiday Guide!
|
Please Note: GamerDad is not intended to be read by anyone under 18. We stay clean, but be warned! Content Management System developed by Redbird Solutions. |
