Super Mario Strikers [GC]

What can be said about Mario that hasn't been uttered or written countless times before? He's the man, whether it's racing, golfing, fighting, or whatever other task you set in front of him. That's why, when you put him in an arcade sports title developed by a team renowned for the genre, you expect nothing short of greatness. What you get, however, does in fact fall below greatness. That isn't to say Super Mario Strikers isn't fun; it just doesn't live up to rightfully lofty expectations.

The game is developed by Next Level, which is made up of employees of Black Box. These guys made the NHL Hitz series -- a favorite in arcade sports -- as well as 2002's groundbreaking Soccer Slam. For fans of the Sega-published title, the similarities between Soccer Slam and Mario Strikers are... well, striking. For those who haven't played the aforementioned games, this is all Greek to you, so let's move on.

Your team is comprised of one superstar player and a crew of sidekicks. Match Luigi with a squad of Hammer Brothers, or show your girl power with Daisy and a herd of Birdos. Other stars include Peach, Waluigi, and Donkey Kong; other sidekicks include Toads and Koopas. The goalie, which is always an alligator-type monstrosity, rounds out the five-on-five squads and is the only one on your team that you won't be controlling. It's a bit of a disappointment that Mario and Luigi won't play side-by-side, and the sidekicks are identical clones of one another, without so much as individual statistics to separate themselves.

The goal of your team is to capture Cups in league-style play. As you progress, more teams are vying for the Cup, which means more competition and more matches. While this is a similar formula to what we've been doing in non-platformer Mario games since Mario Kart on the Super NES, it feels pretty darn thin. Mario Baseball has a funky career mode, after all, with player recruitment and minigames. There's no such lengthy single-player campaign here. That's the bad news.

The good news is this plays a whole lot better than Mario Baseball. With its arcade-style bent, you can expect lots of speed, intensity, and goals scored. On the ball, you can make both regular and lob passes, charge up powerful shots, and even try for an acrobatic one-timer to catch the goalie off-guard. On defense, you can slide-tackle to steal, outright hit, and use a variety of Mario-themed weapons (shells, Bob-ombs) to keep your opponents from scoring. It's both deep and intuitive, with a learning curve that lasts all of two minutes.

Your team captain has an extra advantage with super strike shots. These are both impressive to watch and are worth two points per goal. Charge up a shot with your superstar, then hit the button accurately on a meter that pops up, and you'll see a character-exclusive missile charge straight towards the goalie. With perfect accuracy, shots are literally unblockable, as they take the goalie right along with them to the net. These can really change the tide of a game, but at the same time are too easy to hit, and take some of the fun away from one-timers and other less impressive scores.