Mario Strikers: Charged Football Online Hands-on
We hop onboard the online train with a look at the multiplayer side of Nintendo's Mario football sequel.
UK, May 15, 2007 - Let's get this out of the way right now: Yes. It's got its own Friend Code - and it's completely different to your Wii code. Oh, and if you want to add anyone to your Friend Roster, you'll need to manually input their Friend Code. That's 12 digits, for every friend. Do you hear that? It's the sound of the internet collectively weeping.
That aside, we're pleased to say that Nintendo's inaugural online home console offering (if you live in Europe, at least) works a treat. We'll get onto why in just a minute. First, we're going to run you through those all-important online details - we know that's all you really care about.
In fact, our relatively brief playtime with Mario Strikers: Charged Football was predominantly designed to show off Nintendo's online service. As you're no doubt aware, it all operates in much the same way as Nintendo's DS-based online offerings. So, on firing up the game it's an easy hop into the online play menu. From here you're presented with four main options - Play, Friend Roster, Leaderboard and Ranked.
It's worth pointing out that we were only privy to the 'Friend'-based system during our hands-on, with 'Rivals' play - that is, going head-to-head with complete strangers from around the globe - remaining something of an enigma. So with that in mind, if you've yet to take your copy of Mario Strikers online, your first stop should be the Friend Roster. Here you can add friends, assuming you've got that all important 12-digit code, who - once they've done the same at their end - sit permanently in your list. Neatly, the Friend Roster keeps a running tally of your mates' current Rank, number of wins, loses and overall points. It'll also show their Mii, just in case you'd forgotten what they were there for in the first place.
Even better, this information is disseminated even further over in the Leaderboard section of the online menu. Here, you can see a huge array of stats, listing your Friend Rankings, Daily Leaders and Season Leaders, plus My Daily Rankings and My Season Rankings. Of course, none of this serves any purpose if you don't get stuck in there and start playing.
Thankfully that's incredibly straightforward too. Selecting Play presents the option to start a game (either playing on your own or with a second player teaming up on your Wii), followed by your preferred match settings. Here you can adjust various options including skill levels and game length - latterly, deciding whether a game plays out according to a time limit or set goal target.
Next it's time to select your stadium, with 17 to choose from - that's 10 brand new arenas and returning locations from the GameCube Strikers title. Once that initial set-up is out the way it's time to select your combatant from your Friend Roster. Helpfully, all opponents currently online in the game feature a small green annotation, stating just that.
Make your selection and the Wii immediately notifies your friend with a match request. Here they can accept, decline, accept with a guest on their console for up to four-player games, or peruse the basic match settings. Once accepted, all that's left to do is choose whether you're the home or away team, select your captain and then the remaining squad line-up.
Captains cover all the usual Mario suspects including Peach, Daisy, Bowser, Donkey Kong, Wario, Waluigi, Bowser Jr, and Petey Pirahna, each sporting their own selection of unique special moves. Squads, meanwhile, are slightly more elaborate in this Wii sequel, with it now possible to tailor your remaining four-man line-up with different sub-characters - all of whom affect your overall offensive and defensive prowess.
Into the game proper then, it's all smooth sailing with not a lag in sight. Of course, the fact that servers were pretty barren at this pre-release point probably helped things along immensely. Only time will tell how Nintendo's service holds up once the masses are out in force but, at this early stage at least, things certainly look promising.
If you've played the original 'Cube Strikers title you'll be immediately at home with this Wii iteration. Gameplay-wise, Charged Football doesn't deviate from its predecessor's template very much, with the emphasis firmly on daft, fast-paced arcade action. Of course, this being the Wii, the most striking difference is the game's control set-up. Thankfully though, developer Next Level hasn't gone overboard with the wand-waving gimmickry - motion-sensing is limited to waggling the Wiimote to tackle, while pointing comes into play during goal-blocking power shots.
Unsurprisingly, it takes some mental adjusting if you're familiar with the Cube title's controls but, all-in-all, it works well. The nunchuck is used to control the direction of your players, with various power-ups (multiple green shells, massive blue shells and the like) triggered with the Z button. Meanwhile, on the remote, the A button switches control between players or shoots once you've got the ball and the d-pad is used to perform various context-sensitive offensive or defensive moves, depending on your current situation. Truthfully, we're still a little hazy about your full range of moves, thanks to our limited play time. However, it appears there's an increased element of depth to proceedings for this sequel Mario footie outing.
As before, tight on-pitch quarters make for some incredibly frantic play, with the ball changing hands every couple of seconds. Throw in the huge number of ways to nobble your opponents and initial games can be as confusing as they are entertaining. Luckily though, Nintendo's once again included a comprehensive tutorial, which is highly recommended as your first port of call, not least to get to grips with the game's returning power shots, which can quickly turn a match from frantic ball-scrabbling to massive scoring face-offs.
Here, using your captain, your aim is to find a clear space on the pitch and hold down the B trigger once you've got the ball. Assuming your opponents don't sprint in for a tackle, ruining your attempt in the process, holding down for long enough brings up a golf-like power gauge. As the needle swings right, tapping the trigger dictates the number of simultaneous shots you'll take (with more balls awarded the closer to the end of the gauge you get). As it swings back to the left, successfully tap in the green sweet spot and you'll create a near unstoppable volley. If you've done it right, you'll trigger a typically over-the-top animation (with Petey Pirahna shooting into the air inside a huge sprouting stalk, for instance) and the action switches to your opponent goalie's perspective. Here, using the Wiimote's pointer functionality, the defending player shifts a pair of hands around screen as balls fly forward. By moving over to the oncoming ball and hitting the A button, it's possible to save goals, provided you're quick enough. The whole thing plays out surprisingly like a Duck Hunt clone but, somehow, works without ever feeling shoe-horned into proceedings.
Moody Mario's back. But Princess still seems to be missing her skirt.
That's pretty much that then, with the only other significant addition we saw coming in the form of interactive arenas. Take Storm Ship Stadium for instance, where strong electrical currents intermittently pulse along the ground, sending shockwaves through players unlucky enough to get in the way, incapacitating them momentarily. Or there's Thunder Island, where matches play out on a rain-drenched, wind-swept rocky precipice; as the wind builds speed your team members risk being carried over the side to the water below. And that's not factoring in the occasional rogue tractor or terrified cow careening across your path - get in the way and your entire squad could be in for a swim.
In fact all that merely serves to illustrate the brilliant attention to detail that's gone into this second Mario football outing, with plenty of genuinely funny touches injecting that all-important Mario magic into the game. Each captain and squad member is packed with character and features myriad special moves and amusing animations, while stadiums look glorious with their dizzying architectural flourishes and fully realised crowds. Sure, we're not talking PS3 or 360 quality here, but that should go without saying by now.
Character models and animations are superb. Not that you can tell from up here. Also worthy of mention is the utterly bizarre, utterly brilliant soundtrack. From it's catchy '60s-sounding big band, Grandstand-style theme tune to the weird porn disco funk, banjo flourishes and steel drum calypso madness, none of it makes particular sense, but it all works incredibly well and adds yet another layer of polish to the game.
All in all, despite the relative brevity of our play time, there's a lot to be looking forward to with Mario Strikers: Charged Football. It offers the same high-concept, tightly-focused multiplayer mayhem of its predecessor, with a few neat upgrades and additions courtesy of the Wiimote. What's more, Friend Codes aside, it's an encouraging demonstration of Nintendo's online plans and signals good things to come in the future. Look out for more in-depth probing of Mario Strikers: Charged Football as the game nears its European May 25 release.
