Mario Strikers: 10x more fun than England
As you might have surmised, Mario Strikers isn't exactly a <em>Pro Evo</em>-style ultra-realistic footie sim. It is smashing fun, though -- my favourite part is that you flick the Wiimote to tackle
My favourite lunchtime bash at the mo is Mario Strikers Charged for the Wii. Now, I've been critical of the lack of games on Nintendo's undoubtedly innovative console before now, but this cutesy arcade football title is definitely one to redress the balance. And it's a whole lot more fun than the one-paced snooze-mongers who represent England at real footie.
Think of it as a cross between World Cup for the NES and Mario Kart. Like Mario Kart, you can play as all the main characters from Nintendo's cutest titles, and use familiar power-ups such as red shells and bananas. Each character has a team of five sidekicks, all of whom have special abilities.
Like World Cup, you can do a super strike from pretty much anywhere on the pitch -- hold down shoot and you open a golf-like swingometer that determines how many shots you get and how accurate they are. This is a crucial special move because if you time it right you can score up to six goals.
As you might have surmised, Mario Strikers isn't exactly a Pro Evo-style ultra-realistic footie sim. It is smashing fun, though -- my favourite part is that you flick the Wiimote to tackle, which is tremendously satisfying. Take that, Luigi, you skinny asshat!
Unfortunately some criminal genius has half-inched our second Wii nunchuck, so we can't play two-player. I imagine that would be hella fun, so I'll update as soon as we locate the offending rotter and pull his guts out through his nose with a fishhook.