The 'Shroom:Issue XXXII/Monthly Mulligan

Monthly Mulligan I'm glad to be back with my third Monthly Mulligan. This time, I'll be covering Mario Strikers Charged.

Review
I really liked the original; I'm not a big soccer fan myself, but the original kept my attention and was fun to play alone or with friends. As for the new addition, the first thing you see when you begin playing is that the graphics are much better. Everything's clearer, including the fans. However, I wish the fans would only celebrate and jump up and down after you score, like in the original; it wasn't in integral part of the game, but it was a great addition to the experience. I was also impressed my adding more captains and sidekicks. Obviously, not choosing just one type of sidekick for your team made it a whole lot more interesting. The variety of the different stadiums was nice, but sometimes, it made an enormous difference. On the Sluggers games, the ballpark you play in can make a significant difference, but it can't virtually rig the game. (Hint: Don't use players with a 10 on defense at The Wastelands.) As for the gameplay itself, I think it was very smooth. However, unlike its predecessor, it was much harder to pick up the game on your first try; newcomers didn't always enjoy it at first. This is partially due to all of the dekes, power-ups, skillshots, and Megastrikes; it was just way too much at once. They needed to make a meter for dekes, like the star power meter in the Sluggers games,, so that you couldn't basically become invincible. These annoying unbeatable strategies made online play a pain in the ass. Still, it's a really fun game. As for the plot line in "Road to the Striker Cup," it was pretty good, but they could have made it tougher and longer; minigames and mini-challenges would've been a nice addition. Although Strikers Charged has some drawbacks, it's one of the best spin-offs in Mario history.


 * Gameplay: 9.5/10
 * Graphics: 9/10
 * Storyline: 8/10

Overall: 8.83

Graphics
Although the graphics are nice, and an improvement on its predecessor, I think they could've made the fans jump up and down when you score.

Dekes
As I stated earlier, a deke meter that would fill based on your performance or just recharge over time would make it a little more fair.

Online Play
They need a mercy rule. People use all of these annoying strategies that make it a blowout, and you have no way to stop them.

That's all for this month, folks! Next month: Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and Mario Kart Wii