Mario Strikers Charged online verdict

To make things more fun, it is also possible for two people to go online together on one Wii (the Series With a Guest option), letting you both play in co-operation against another opponent, which is a nice bonus feature.

Games only last a few minutes each (there's no option to change this) and you play up to three matches with each opponent. The first team to win two matches wins overall, and is awarded 10 points on the overall tables, which can be viewed via the leaderboard menu.

Player stats can also be pulled up on the official Mario Strikers UK website (that strangely contains the word "Football"in the title, although there was nary a quarterback to be found.) But hopefully online stats will be availabe when Strikers comes stateside in late July.

So there's not much to it, with little-to-no options, no player communication and no online tournaments of any kind. But it's technically sound (albeit locally-restricted) and is the most fun you'll get out of the game beyond getting friends round. But we hope for more fleshed-out online performances from future Wii games.

June 1, 2007