Mario Strikers Battle League Football Review: Distilled football

Dentsu Gaming e United Colors of Benetton: primo store nel Metaverso

An imaginative football title, but also concise: will Mario Strikers Battle League Football be able to go on the net in our review?

What we would recognize in one review from Mario Strikers Battle League Football has already been said elsewhere for another video game. Specifically, we allude to Honest Trailers, to whom Jon Bailey has lent his warm voice for Screen Junkies and Smosh Gaming. In the latter case, Bailey summed up Rocket League as follows: “football, made interesting to watch”. Of course, it must be said that it is only the latest of the many digs that the American public has aimed at our balòn, but let’s face it: if you are among the non-lovers of football, there is a reason. It can be the rules, the demotions, the betrayed hopes or a disproportionate round of money, but there is.

Of course, seeing the sport most loved by Italians grappling with a Mario other than Balotelli is not a simple triumph of patriotic spirit. There is something more: the need to combine a sporting discipline with a cast that acts as a universal adapter. And if the Mushroom Kingdom has already been able to interpret various sports disciplines with interesting compromises (tennis in the first place), what does the most loved plumber have to say in the context of a sports simulator otherwise aimed only at enthusiasts? The use of objects by Mario Kart is a pretext like any other to strip football of referees and rules, but also (consequently) of frills.

“Next Level Games and Nintendo don’t do things ad mentula canis”

So read (paraphrasing for editorial reasons) the brilliant review seen on Nintendo The Official Magazine (number 46, December 2005) for Mario Smash Football, forerunner of this Strikers Battle League. And despite the immature style of the Big N’s current rib, the development team didn’t pretend to give this spinoff a plot. That didn’t stop them from injecting a dose of either, though personality to the entire cast that goes far beyond the simple accentuated expressions of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. On the contrary: Mario is not on the field to take prisoners. To put it in the Neapolitan style, à cummann iss.

As much as we regret confirming the departure of Waluigi’s (Charged, Wii) groin pats, now immortalized as memes, the subversive spirit that separates the typically western flavor of this production from the rest of the oeuvre of the Kyoto colossus is still intact. As well as the superhero genre in The Boys, here too we see something familiar in a new guise distorted by the context. Here is a Peach who struggles to maintain the aplomb after a goal conceded (below), Donkey Kong who poses by doing breakdance when he scores, and a Boom Boom goalkeeper who scolds the team after having saved.

Mario Strikers Battle League Football Review: Distilled football

Referee gives up – Mario Strikers Battle League Football Review

So if you are used to reading a FIFA or PES review sighing at the thought of having to worry about the fouls not to inflict, you can sleep peacefully: in Mario Strikers Battle League Football everything is valid. Elbows, teeth kicks and, in the case of Toad’s hyperthrous, field invasions as well. The first moments of the game are consumed in what is currently also the entirety of the First Kick demo, that is a tutorial. The player has the opportunity to skip it, but usually (as we have had the opportunity to test on a subject completely unaware of this) it is never slow to regret it.

The tutorial of Fùtbot (applause to Next Level Games for the name) worthily prepares the player to play unworthily, giving lessons on complicated commands. Many of them are contextual, as the (occasionally cumbersome, even here) tradition of soccer games dictates. Here, then, that Y allows us to make a “tackle” (read: a foul) towards the closest unfortunate player. If we do not have the ball, of course. Otherwise, it is a lob with which to circumvent the attempts of the opponents to steal the coveted ball from us. The same goes for R (dodge / dribble) and other buttons. It is not a game that allows for distractions, then.

Mario Strikers Battle League Football Review: Distilled football

Let’s Play, Kick, But Really – Mario Strikers Battle League Football Review

That the learning curve of the game is vertiginous is the understatement of the century. It occurs to us again to consider Smash, often derided (wrongly) to allow you to “win even by pressing random keys”. This is not the case, but this does not mean that it is inaccessible. This game, for its part, does not discount anyone, not even during the tutorial. Each lesson can be completed simply, or completed by taking care of every single objective not to be missed within a certain time limit. When the opposing Yoshis show up, however, reaching the en plein in the tutorial objectives immediately proves to be a cold shower.

A way like any other, in short, to bring back to reality the expectations of those who have taken for granted that they have the road paved for the mere presence of the Nintendo cast. Let’s clarify: involving Mario certainly represents an opening to a larger audience than fans of videogame football, without a shadow of a doubt. But this does not detract from the game due to its direct vocation to a very technical gameplay. The First Kick demo, as intended primarily as an online test, stops before the last part of the tutorial: one test match against the Yoshis. And if they are not joking, the cups certainly do not take long to pull out their claws.

Mario Strikers Battle League Football Review: Distilled football

Another World League – Mario Strikers Battle League Football Review

Summarizing the fundamentals of the game is quite simple. It is a real football under the cube root, without referees, rules and, in case of draws, penalties. At the same time, however, the “Mariesque touch” consists of Hyperthyroidismthat is spectacular shots (and occasionally impossible to save) that are worth two goals each, and in the objects. On the pitch it is in fact possible to place bananas to prevent the advance of the opponents, shells to throw them away, even stars to dribble undisturbed and more. In this sense, there are all the prerequisites for a new inevitable title among multiplayer games.

And we are talking about a distinctly multiplayer vein because on the single player front we are on the minimum wage. The modality Cups is the closer you get to a real campaign, with six championships of three (or more) games each, at the end of which as many more difficult variants are unlocked. As evidence of the true potential of the game, which lies precisely in the possibility of playing together, the championships can be used locally for up to four players. The difficulty curve remains dizzying and the intent is sometimes clearly a lengthening of the stock, but in co-op everything soon becomes a bomb.

Mario Strikers Battle League Football Review: Distilled football

Final Fantasy Soccer – Review Mario Strikers Battle League Football

Yes, the Next Level Games trilogy responds to a certain reputation of “caciarone fun”. But we would be lying to you if we denied the presence of a considerable amount of strategy. Each mode, from the most generous tournaments to the stingy of quick matches, allows you to earn a certain number of coins at the end of the event. The Cups prove to be more lavish in money the first time they are won, and soon the money earned offers us numerous opportunities to spend it. It’s a good time to talk about the more tactical aspect of the game, which is the much talked about equipment.

Helmets, gloves, armor and shoes: these are the four items of clothing available for purchase, which according to the player’s needs can be mixed together or make up a whole set. Each of them gives an extra point to a given one statistica of one character, but to the detriment of another. Once the regular Cups have been completed, it is possible to obtain more expensive items (from 100 coins to 300) that shuffle the cards on the table by penalizing three stats in exchange for a sizable bonus for just one aspect of the characters. All this translates into something similar to the assembly of karts in Mario Kart from the seventh chapter onwards, while being able to choose to play without any equipment.

Mario Strikers Battle League Football Review: Distilled football

Online and offline – Mario Strikers Battle League Football Review

Of course, you don’t live on Cups alone, although they remain the most profitable option to quickly complete each character’s wardrobe. The quick matches they are divided into game on a console, local game (by connecting two Switches together) and online game. As for offline play in its entirety, we don’t have much to add beyond what you expect – this is simply a must-have game in your library for your multiplayer needs. In this sense, from such a range of options (up to a maximum of eight playerswith the division into teams that suits you best) it is difficult to ask for more.

A proper applause, however, the quick matches deserve online. We subjected the game’s matchmaking to the stopwatch to the writing of this article, and it only took five seconds flat to get in touch with other players. Not everything about online communication is worthy of praise for this, but for what may be the needs of a player looking for immediate matches there is really nothing to complain about. The game throne supported by a sincere slogan is still in the hands of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, although in terms of games that “save the evening” we are facing a more than decent second place.

Mario Strikers Battle League Football Review: Distilled football

Willy the Coyote Floor Plans – Mario Strikers Battle League Football Review

What caused a sensation, during that phenomenal Nintendo Direct in February (probably destined to remain undefeated in 2022), was also the confidence with which the Big N showed off the mode Club Striker. The basic idea is to found your own football club (or football federation, to keep the acronym in Italian). Up to 19 other people can join our 5-a-side football club, contributing at their own pace to progress in ranked matches shared by all members without taking part in the game. And as an idea, there really is enormous potential.

It is with utmost despair that we report how much the execution of such a brilliant intuition fall on your face. We wanted to try the hardest way, thus avoiding joining existing clubs in favor of our creation. We don’t know what our flop is due to, but on balance it’s been almost seven days since day one without the fledgling team getting even a new scion. Since progress, despite the pause periods between one season and another, also brings with it intriguing customizations for your personal stage, it’s a real shame to see the developers’ ambition so poorly rewarded.

Mario Strikers Battle League Football Review: Distilled football

Bleachers of Joy – Mario Strikers Battle League Football Review

We anticipate our considerations on the graphics, because there are many joys but also the occasional pains that it is better to talk about. Artistically speaking, we are in a real state of …