Mario Strikers Charged

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Mario Strikers Charged - updated hands-on

The gang hits the soccer pitch once again, now with 800% more things on fire

Words: Eric Bratcher, GamesRadar US

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Gameplay itself has more depth, thanks to several touches like one-touch passing, header shots, the ability to chip the ball off walls, and a finely-tuned tackle you can launch by flicking the Wii remote. The ball's halo changes from red to yellow to white, depending upon how likely it is that your shot will go in, and Megastrikes aren't the automatic scores the last game had. Instead, when you trigger one, a golf swing-style meter appears that enables you to select how many shots to take (up to six) and how fast the ball will move. Then, the other player takes control of his or her goalie's hands and tries to block the balls as they streak toward them in first-person. And if you don't like any of this super-powered stuff and want a more realistic humans and turtles and mushrooms playing soccer sim, you can unlock the power to turn all those fancy bits off.

There's a scenario mode (score seven goals in the last 1:30 and so on…) that helps give the single-player mode color, and we played it 2-on-2 online with great performance (matches can also be 1 on 1, 2 on 1 or 3 on 1). Many of the 17 stadiums bring something to the table too; the desert-y Sand Tomb has quicksand slowing you down on the edges and giant frowning stone cubes (Thwomps) slamming down in the middle. Thunder Island has no side walls and a hurricane nearby, so you can fall right off the playing pitch even if you don't get hit by a windblown cow. Which is really what every soccer game needs: more airborne cows. Take note, FIFA.