Surprise Surprise...

They say that good things come in small packages. They were right. Today, I got a little surprise when a certain postage item reached my door. Four words. Mario... Strikers... Charged... Football. They long-awaited game for the Wii.

Since before it's birth, it was already marked as a monumental game for the system. Partly because the prequel was a really awesome game on the GameCube. But most importantly: ONLINE. Yes, the Nintendo Wii has officially broken into - what I like to call - the 'Online Gaming Stage.'

This latest iteration includes two things that many people in the UK (and Europe) know and love. Football. And Mario. Although you can't really count it as football, they only relation to football this game has is... it has a ball, a goal and keepers. That's it. Feet are not necessarily used in this game - heck, some of the players don't even have feet. And the scores possible in this game look more like... like... a Basketball game score. There are no boring nil-nil draws. None at all. If you tie with someone it automatically moves to 'Sudden Death' - self explanatory.

Because I did it for the 'Spiderman 3' Wii game. I might as well write a short review on the game.

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Mario Strikers Charged Football - Wii

Sound
Ok, the music & sound in this game is awesome. It changes dynamically according to what is happening on the pitch. It changes when a captain readies a MegaStrike, it changes when the ball changes colour - it's complicated, the ball changes colour the more you pass etc. All in all, the music definitely adds to this games list of PROs.

Shaky Support
Basically, use of the Wiimotes unique features. Not that much in this game. If you really wanted to you could easily port this game over to pretty much any console. But, you lose a vital part of the game. The saves of MegaStrikes. When an opponent fires one of these beasts against you it is extremely bad for you. For starters, if they pull it off they are guaranteed at least 3 shots at you (max. 6). Then if you the kind that has never been good at duckhut or the shooting game in Mii Play... you're screwed. Fortunately, I own - no seriously, I pwn - at shooting games, Mii Play's shooting game was a piece of cake. Well, anyway, you have to stop the balls by moving the goalie's hands over the ball and press A. Simple, right? Wrong. There are varying amounts of speed, the slowest is of course easiest to catch. But when someones hit the little orange bar... it rakes up the difficulty to ultra-insane-mega-mono-super-duper hard. The balls probably stay in place for like half a second, and in that half a second you've got to position the hands over the ball AND press A. Take it from me, not that easy. The other use of 'shaky support' is when dealing a "hit" where you do a NFL style tackle on the players - even if they don't have the ball. It works really well, and gives a nice satisfaction that you took out bowser with Toad (or whatever his name is) with just a flick of the wrists.

ONLINE - wOOt!
The thing every Nintendo Fanboy has been having wet dreams of. Online. And I am proud to say: 'It's awesome.' It works really well. The only rant I have about it is the 16-digit code that needs to be inputted. Boo. Sure, it protects children from predators... yada yada. But seriously now, 16 digits! Thats a lot of numbers. Why 16? Why not something shorter? Or add in letters? Like 5 characters instead of 16 digits. And the ability of making up your own. Oh well, what's done is done.

Apart from that bit the online is almost perfect. So far, I've only played ranked games due to not having any of those 16 digit code things. But it means a pleasant hectic experience. By the way, thats a good thing. You really get into the feel of the game and you have no idea how into the game I was. Before the Megastrike saves, I was wiping my hands on my trousers to make sure I have a better grip and everything! You know I'm serious when that happens. In ranked games, you choose captains & sidekicks but the stadium is chosen for you. Thats just to make it fair, because you'll obviously choose the stadium you're better at. Don't worry though, it's possible to choose stuff like that in friendly games. Cheats are also an option in friendly games. Sweet.

Oh and very important: I experienced no lag at all! Nintendo has online sorted.

Marioness - I'm not high, before anyone asks.
Obviously, the whole cast of Mario characters are here. There's: Mario, Luigi, Bowser, DK, DK Jr., Bowser Jr., Peach, Daisy, Petey is also there and more! By the way Petey - for anyone that doesn't know - is a plant thing. The new stadiums in it are also awesome, as they have dynamic... er... things that generally make it harder to move around etc. One of my favourites is on 'Thunder Island' where it's all... thundery. And very very windy. And occasionally, if you're lucky - a cow flies past and takes out players. Gives out a nice, resonating 'Moooooooooooooooo' as well. Classic. The pitch also differentiates. E.g. In the 'Sand Tomb' to the sides of the pitch are slower areas and the middle is faster ground etc.

Conclusion
One word: Awesome. This game is a must-buy for anyone who has a Wii, mainly due to online - because then I can kick your ass. But, if you're not sure. Definately worth a rental.

I've only talked about a few specifics in the game but there is so much more. Theres:

• 'Domination Mode' - where you choose stadium, match length etc.
• 'Road to the Striker Cup' - where you progress through harder opponents until you reach the famous Striker Cup
• 'Striker Challenges' - challenges that unlock cheats etc. Varying difficulty, sometimes puts you a man down or needing 5 goals to win etc.
• 'Special Abilities' - each Captain has special abilities that they can use, awesomeness.
• 'Skill Shots' - The sidekicks version of the MegaStrike
  

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MARIO NAILS ONLINE! WOOT! Get the game!

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EDIT: Because my friends are boring sods and haven't got this game yet... I thought I might as well post up my MSCF code for online play:

451072 143999

Am I a nice guy or what? By the way, if you are a pedophile/sexual predator etc. please don't add me. I have no interest in that kind of stuff.

NOTE: Be warned, I'm ace at this. As of this very moment ranked about 110 in the whole world. How awesome am I? If you add my code, be wary of a but-kicking by yours truly. PWN3D!

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