Extremely hard, but pretty fun and the multiplayer is a blast!
Positive: - just as fun as the original - individual sidekicks can be selected, each with different stats - excellent controls - very good multiplayer and online play -
Negative: - brutally difficult - graphics aren't all that great - mega strikes make the game a little unbalanced - a little too hectic sometimes -
Mario Strikers Charged is a great game. It has improved over the original in every way possible except for the undeniable fact that it's REALLY hard! It's fun, has more characters, great controls, and excellent multiplayer which makes it a really good game.
This game doesn't really have a story, you just play in the Road to the Striker Cup to become the champion. The Road to the Striker Cup gets rediculously difficult pretty early on, which makes you just want to give it up. The good thing is that you can play it on a 2 player co-op mode, which can be pretty fun. There are also special missions to do, most of which are really hard. You have to do things like come back from behind and win or win with a shutout to beat these missions.
The gameplay in this game is pretty similar to the original but feels very different at the same time in the sense that it's almost all about pushing people and is overall pure craziness. It's still great fun, but it can get very hectic at times. Before each game, the home captain flys down from the sky for some reason, and I found that to be pretty stupid. The captains can do mega strikes now (explained later) which makes the game a little unbalanced. The goalie blocking minigame that ensues from a mega strike is a great addition to the game and is quite fun and interesting. The controls are great in Charged as well. Button pushes do most things for you like shooting, passing, and dodging, but a shake of the remote makes you push your opponent and a flick of the nunchuk allows you to switch the item you are about to use. The captains have their own special items which are really cool, such as Bowser's fire breath and Waluigi making a wall behind him.
The character selection in Charged is much better than in the original. There are more captains including Diddy Kong and Petey Piranha, but the main improvement is that you can choose three individual sidekicks, each with different stats. A Hammer Bro. will bring the hurt on offense with powerful shooting while a Dry Bones is fast and has a long slide tackle move. Each of these sidekicks has a special shot as well, which is activated by holding A for a certain amount of time. Birdo will shoot a giant egg that will go right through the goalie and a Toad will shoot a ball on fire, for instance. These sidekicks are all so diverse that it allows for much more customization in your team and allows you to work with your tastes more. The captains can all do a mega strike which is also activated by holding A, but after you hold A for a second, a meter comes up with a bar going across it and you have to stop it in the right spots to shoot up to six balls at different speeds. These shots start a minigame (if they're done against you or anytime in multiplayer) in which the balls appear on the screen and the player must point at the balls to stop them.
The main strong point of Charged is easily its multiplayer. You can do up to four players on regular multiplayer, and you can have multiple human players on one team. Playing with four players is a blast, and although you don't always react to eachother as quickly as you react to yourself (like with a shot you want to do off of a lob pass or something) it's still great fun. The online multiplayer is easily Nintendo's best yet. You can play with friends or do a random match. You can also play with two players on one console (your partner being on your team) which is a really cool thing to do. There are also leaderboards, which is a first for Nintendo. Sometimes this game can get pretty laggy online, which is very annoying, but you can see the connection quality before you choose to play with the person you found, so you can get out of playing a laggy game easily.
Overall, Mario Strikers Charged is a great game. It shines in the multiplayer section while being brutally difficult on single player. It has great controls and is overall a very fun game. It's very fun to play with a friend, but don't bother with it if you're just in it for the single player, because you'll get rediculously frustrated with it if you're not incredibly good at the game. It's definitely a good game to rent, especially since some people didn't like it very much. It has its share of little faults, but the good definitely outweighs the bad by a lot. I find this game to be worth playing, for sure!
Gameplay: 8
Graphics: 7
Sound: 7
Value: 8
Negative: - brutally difficult - graphics aren't all that great - mega strikes make the game a little unbalanced - a little too hectic sometimes -
Mario Strikers Charged is a great game. It has improved over the original in every way possible except for the undeniable fact that it's REALLY hard! It's fun, has more characters, great controls, and excellent multiplayer which makes it a really good game.
This game doesn't really have a story, you just play in the Road to the Striker Cup to become the champion. The Road to the Striker Cup gets rediculously difficult pretty early on, which makes you just want to give it up. The good thing is that you can play it on a 2 player co-op mode, which can be pretty fun. There are also special missions to do, most of which are really hard. You have to do things like come back from behind and win or win with a shutout to beat these missions.
The gameplay in this game is pretty similar to the original but feels very different at the same time in the sense that it's almost all about pushing people and is overall pure craziness. It's still great fun, but it can get very hectic at times. Before each game, the home captain flys down from the sky for some reason, and I found that to be pretty stupid. The captains can do mega strikes now (explained later) which makes the game a little unbalanced. The goalie blocking minigame that ensues from a mega strike is a great addition to the game and is quite fun and interesting. The controls are great in Charged as well. Button pushes do most things for you like shooting, passing, and dodging, but a shake of the remote makes you push your opponent and a flick of the nunchuk allows you to switch the item you are about to use. The captains have their own special items which are really cool, such as Bowser's fire breath and Waluigi making a wall behind him.
The character selection in Charged is much better than in the original. There are more captains including Diddy Kong and Petey Piranha, but the main improvement is that you can choose three individual sidekicks, each with different stats. A Hammer Bro. will bring the hurt on offense with powerful shooting while a Dry Bones is fast and has a long slide tackle move. Each of these sidekicks has a special shot as well, which is activated by holding A for a certain amount of time. Birdo will shoot a giant egg that will go right through the goalie and a Toad will shoot a ball on fire, for instance. These sidekicks are all so diverse that it allows for much more customization in your team and allows you to work with your tastes more. The captains can all do a mega strike which is also activated by holding A, but after you hold A for a second, a meter comes up with a bar going across it and you have to stop it in the right spots to shoot up to six balls at different speeds. These shots start a minigame (if they're done against you or anytime in multiplayer) in which the balls appear on the screen and the player must point at the balls to stop them.
The main strong point of Charged is easily its multiplayer. You can do up to four players on regular multiplayer, and you can have multiple human players on one team. Playing with four players is a blast, and although you don't always react to eachother as quickly as you react to yourself (like with a shot you want to do off of a lob pass or something) it's still great fun. The online multiplayer is easily Nintendo's best yet. You can play with friends or do a random match. You can also play with two players on one console (your partner being on your team) which is a really cool thing to do. There are also leaderboards, which is a first for Nintendo. Sometimes this game can get pretty laggy online, which is very annoying, but you can see the connection quality before you choose to play with the person you found, so you can get out of playing a laggy game easily.
Overall, Mario Strikers Charged is a great game. It shines in the multiplayer section while being brutally difficult on single player. It has great controls and is overall a very fun game. It's very fun to play with a friend, but don't bother with it if you're just in it for the single player, because you'll get rediculously frustrated with it if you're not incredibly good at the game. It's definitely a good game to rent, especially since some people didn't like it very much. It has its share of little faults, but the good definitely outweighs the bad by a lot. I find this game to be worth playing, for sure!
Gameplay: 8
Graphics: 7
Sound: 7
Value: 8