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Mario Strikers Charged is a sports videogame developed by Next Level Games and published by Nintendo. The game was released exclusively on the Nintendo Wii.

When Mario starts playing sports, things go crazy! It's been proven once again by this sequel to Super Mario Strikers on the Nintendo GameCube. In this mad soccer world, there are no rules, just a lot of fun.

It remains a soccer game, the point remains of scoring the maximum goals against the opposing team. You will play in teams of five players each one having a captain (a major character in the Mario Universe). Remember, this is a Mario game and thus, not only can you shoot, pass, and tackle but you'll have also special abilities and the now-famous items. To perform a special shot, simply hold the "shoot" button. However, if you're using your captain, then it turns into a "Mega Strike". This shot will divide into several balls that can give you multiple goals. The opponent team's goalie will enter a mini-game in which he will have to use the Wii's special capacities to try to block the shots. Items, like Mario Kart, will give you certain abilities for a period of time (increased speed, koopa shells, etc.).

But the true innovation in Mario Strikers Charged is its online mode. It is the second Wii game to truly use its Wifi capacities. It comes with two modes: Ranked Random matches and unranked friendly matches. Well, the name says it all. Either you can play against anyone in your region to try to be the best scorer of the day or just play a regular match with a friend without any points.

Mario Strikers Charged is a great introduction to the series in the next gen. The game controls have been revised and are perfectly adapted to the Wii's motion detection. The great default from the first game was its repetitiveness but it has been corrected manly thanks to the new online mode. As always, a great multiplayer game but little bit boring alone.

Mario Strikers Charged reviews