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By Keith B (21st Jul 2007)

For all of its revolting plebeian hooliganism and yobbish idiocy, football (A.K.A. soccer or the groan-inducing ‘footy’) is a wildly entertaining sport in almost all of its semi-professional forms. Whereas most sports solicit fans for there lowlier divisions and farm clubs about as easily as David Beckham solicits mass masculine approval, football has a seemingly endless array of leagues--international, national, regional, amateur, and professional--that possess no shortage of popular approval. So it’s almost a no-brainer that those who can profit from football do: merchandisers, sports equipment and beverage companies, advertising agencies, television stations, film makers and, most recently, the Super Mario Bros franchise.

The first time out, our good Italian plumbers appeared in Super Mario Strikers, a solid football game with a penchant for the absurd. It was all pretty run of the mill for the Brothers--which is to say not run of the mill at all. Maybe capitalizing on the notion that all things Japanese produced are strange, the original game was basically Mario Kart with nets: rules, both those demanded of football and the physical world we inhabit, were shirked. It was like medieval football on acid without the plagues or the Grateful Dead.

Mario Strikers Charged, the latest version of the game, picks up where the last left off. You start the game, thankfully, with Strikers ABC, a sort of pre-season training camp to get you in the Wii-mood. This is more than just a run-down of the usual: without it you’ll be lost. After this, you’ll select your captain, team, and stadium. Maybe most interestingly, the game demands somewhat intelligently planned play. That’s right, Strikers requires that most often ignored of Super Mario words: strategy. But don’t worry, this isn’t like a game of Risk. In this capacity, Strikers is more like a standard sports game than anything else, simply requiring some semi-thoughtful player selection. Who are the good defenders? Who are my goal scorers? Who’s my go-to player? And will the Princess subvert the gendering typical of video games? To all of these questions, answers aplenty can be easily found, especially by those already familiar with the Mario Bros series. For defense, go to the Koopas; for monster goals, talk to Donkey Kong; the usual all-around player is Mario; while the Princess’s gently turned ankles expectedly prove too delicate for wall-crumbling kicks. Teams are likewise strategically selected. Each team is captained by a familiar face, which in turn influences the team dynamic. Donkey Kong is the powerhouse (think a sufficiently provoked Zidane), for instance, while Peaches’s team is a mixture of finesse and zip, like those nimble-footed Swedes.

Initial selection is pretty bare boned, but as you progress, by winning games and smaller cup matches on the way to that most celebrated of wins, the Striker Cup, you’ll acquire new selections, prizes, and skills. As you move through the game, though, you’ll be expected to give it your all. Later games, if lost, can mean huge setbacks, as you will be forced to play over already-won cup matches. This can all be avoided by simply eliminating league history, though the reach-for-the-top winner in you might not be so inclined.

One of the game’s better features (often leading to some of the finer and more notable visual sequences, along with brilliant goal-scoring celebrations) is the Mega Strike, a move executed by the team captain, in which several balls are fired in quick succession at the net, often resulting in numerous goals. The move requires some quick thinking though and ample opportunity: space available, player positioning, and quickness of reaction will all affect the speed with which the onslaught of balls is released. This, when you’re on the receiving end, produces a few great opportunities for some pretty heady goaltending as well. Just as the other team is about to execute the move, you throw on the netminder’s gloves. Otherwise, quick footedness and proficient passing, which help to build up a power charge, are the only calculated ways to score goals.

The control scheme is adequate, though not brilliant. In all fairness, I know that a football game isn’t really well suited to the Wiimote and Nunchuk, but, then again, all the better. If Wii wants to woo the non-gamers, then sports games are easily one of the hot tickets: most people love at least one sport, and god knows a truckload of those are diehard football fans. The D-pad is used for tackles and takedowns, while the A button switches players and the B unleashes shots. Beyond this simple control scheme, little use is really made of the console’s motion sensitivity: when goaltending against an oncoming Mega Strike, your gloved hands appear on screen, which you waggle back and forth, hitting A to execute saves; likewise, by vigorously shaking the controller, you clumsily smash into other players. What else the designers could really have done with the Wii controllers is beyond me, but their marked unemployment proves a frustrating lack.

The game is visually better than its earlier version. The figures are crisp, and the graphics show no visual lag. By Wii’s graphic standards, this is a good game. Camera positioning, though, is pretty lackluster. The standard overhead view of what works out to be a pretty small playing field is a bit disappointing. Likewise, the game’s soundscape is well prepared, though with some qualms. Chanting fans, funkified Mario classics, and a bevy of superfluous sound effects help diversify the playing experience. But a lack of commentary--almost standard in today’s pro-sport game market--is perplexing. I’m not looking for complex colour commentary or even a play-by-play announcer, but a bit here and there--just a few lines to let me know a human built the game--would be nice.

While some might complain about the depth of Strikers--a fair observation--the developers have admirably attempted to re-spice an oft-prepared dish. That being said, those dedicated football fans who long for the days of gentleman’s play and a genuinely beautiful game are in for a disappointment. The game really does look and act nothing like your average football match. Hell, it doesn’t even act like your average EA Sports game. We have nets, players, a field, and a ball, yes, but we also have few or no rules, sometimes more than one ball, and a whack of other things never before seen in a football stadium. The EA Sports motto--“It’s in the game”--comes in for some serious abuse here: “Yes, absolutely everything, even that which shouldn’t be, is in the game.” This, though, is a quibble. Strikers is not a football game. This is another installment in the Mario Bros series, and as such gives us what we tend to expect: the unexpected. Cantankerous grumbling about the way things used to be aside, Mario Strikers Charged is a solid game well worth its purchase. So strap on your cleats and fire up your Wii: you’re in for some of the year’s best digital--for lack of a better word--football.