Developer: Next Level Games
Publisher: Nintendo, Nintendo of America Inc.
Platform: Switch
Tested on: Switch
Mario Strikers: Battle League Football – Review
Nearly 17 years ago, Mario donned a new sports outfit to dive into the game of football. This new Mario sports series took over the world, and it even spawned a sequel on the Wii. After that, however, we didn’t hear a single thing about the Mario Strikers series anymore. We thought the series had slowly died a silent death, and we weren’t expecting a new title in the franchise. A few months ago, the announcement of a new game was made, and we were quite stoked to duke it out against friends and online players with the release of Mario Strikers: Battle League Football. We invited some friends over to boast about our digital football skills, and even though we had quite a lot of fun, the overall package felt a bit light on content.
Story
This new iteration of Mario Strikers has no story value whatsoever. You basically just pick the mode you want to play, and you’re good to go. Even though a single-player campaign with a bit of story content would have been nice here, it’s something most players won’t miss.
Graphics
Graphically Battle League Football is a good-looking game. The characters are appealing, even though the game only has a small roster of characters to choose from. The stadiums have interesting backdrops, especially because every stadium consists of two sceneries merged together. These two sides represent the sides of the different teams, and it’s a nice overall touch. What stands out here are the celebratory animations of the characters, as well as their special move animations. The special moves are very nice to look at, but sadly you cannot skip these cutscenes, and after a few matches these will become a tad tedious.
Sound
The sound design is also fairly okay, and the background music doesn’t really get boring. Sadly, all you get here are some basic sound effects to flesh things out. We feel like this game could have also used a commentator or something to make the overall experience a bit more immersive. Nonetheless, as you’ll be focused on the gameplay, many might not be bothered by the lack of bells and whistles in the sound department.
Gameplay
Mario Strikers: Battle League Football is all about football, albeit in a wacky Mario-esque format. In this game, you’ll have four active players per team and one AI-controlled keeper. You basically pick the team members you like the most, and you’re good to go. You can choose to play the fairly extensive tutorial, and after that, you may choose to play locally with friends or against the AI, or you can take your football skills online. Truth be told, that already sums up about 80% of the game. This proves to be the game’s biggest issue, as it simply lacks content.
In the different modes, you’ll just earn coins to unlock gear. Once again, that’s about it. That being said, the game is easy to get into, but it will take you a long time to master. Many commands in the game are somewhat timing-based, and making a shot at the right moment may score you some easy points. Your special move is also timing-based, and pressing the button at the right time may grant you an unblockable goal. On top of that, the game also throws iconic Mario items in the mix, such as green and red shells, stars, banana peels, and so on. This also adds a bit of wacky charm to the game, which is certainly appreciated. The game proves to be the most fun with friends against other players, as the AI clearly sports the same annoying qualities as the Mario Party AI. More than often you’ll notice that the AI pulls off things that other players would not be able to, which tends to get annoying after a while.
The gear system is a fun touch, but it is also very basic. For the most part, it serves to customize a few of your favorite characters to match your playstyle. If you like the heavier characters but you find they lack speed, you might be able to equip items that boost their speed stat, but this will then come at a cost. When you equip a piece of gear, you will boost one stat but also make another stat weaker. This is to prevent you from boosting all the stats on one character to create the ultimate football player. Nonetheless, this system does allow you to customize your team a bit more, and you might even surprise your opponents if you equip speed gear on Bowser, Wario, and Donkey Kong.
Conclusion
Mario Strikers: Battle League Football is a fun entry in the series, but we did find it a bit light on content when looking at the retail price of this one. This title proves to be enjoyable when you’re able to play against friends, as the AI is not a fun opponent, and when you’re a fan of playing online, this one will also be quite entertaining. Those looking for a fun single-player experience will probably end up quite disappointed due to the lack of content. Outside of earning a few coins for gear, there is nothing to truly work towards, and we also regret the lack of characters to choose from, but we reckon we’ll see more characters appear in paid DLC. All in all, this one is enjoyable, albeit extremely overpriced.
Mario Strikers: Battle League Football - Review,
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