Preview Mario Strikers Battle League Football: We probably played the best multiplayer game of the year on Nintendo Switch
Published on 05/27/2022 at 15:00
After being long requested by Nintendo fans, the Mario Strikers series finally makes a comeback with Battle League Football, nearly a decade following the last installment on Wii. While the title is expected to be one of the big Switch cartridges for this summer, we were able to play it for more than an hour to make many matches, and we give you our impressions.
Summary
- Deeper gameplay
- Pre-match preparation, more important than ever
- A little light content at launch?
If you have never tried a game from the sub-series Mario Strikers, don’t worry, it’s very simple. First imagine a classic football match with two teams of five players, goalkeeper included. From there, you just have to forget regarding any yellow, red or offside cards, sincehere, all shots are allowed, the referee and the VAR being absent subscribers. On the field, only one thing counts: to score more goals than those opposite, and this, regardless of the means used to recover the ball, whether with violent tackles or thanks to objects at the Mario Kart.
Obviously, like any Mario sports game, each character has a special move with impressive animation that allows you to score two goals here if the ball enters the cages. Finally, it must be recognized that‘much of the fun of the experience comes mainly from the often very funny celebrations and reactions of the players when there is a goal . If we have here the common basis of all games Mario Footballthis Switch episode brings a large number of new features to give unprecedented depth to the gameplay.
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Deeper gameplay
On the main lines, Mario Strikers : Battle League Football remains similar to its elders, but it brings enough subtleties to breathe new life into the formula. For example, all moves now have an improved version if executed with perfect timing, both dribbling and passing, for example. As for shots, they become more technical since you can now aim more precisely by charging your shot, which allows you to score goals both at ground level and in the top corner. The Hyper Strikes also see their operation modified because it is now necessary to recover an object before activating them, while the opposing goalkeeper can send them back by hammering the A button. But rest assured, the essential does not change since the animations of celebrations , reactions and those of the Hyper Strikes are always so funny and impressive.
Beyond these subtleties, the title incorporates new moves to bring even more depth to the gameplay. If the lob shot is no longer, we find the lob pass, the free pass, as well as the loaded tackle which allows a player to push another player so that he recovers the ball from an opponent. If these gestures are sometimes technical to place in the middle of the game, they can be very useful in certain situations for those who have perfectly mastered the game mechanics. Conversely, certain movements have been made less effective with the aim of balance matches. It is for this purpose that the developers have introduced stamina which limits the number of dribbles and sprints that players are able to chain. If you overuse it, your characters will eventually get tired, so best to use it sparingly. Moreover, the race has also been modified since it takes the form of dashes rather than a sprint, which gives it a different use.
With all these little additions, Mario Strikers: Battle League Football brings a more technical dimension to the gameplay of previous episodes, which will please those who do not intend to drop the title immediately. However, rest assured, we are still facing a Mario game whose goal is always to be very accessible to allow anyone to have fun quickly, simply by grabbing a controller. Even so, the action is sometimes complicated to understand at first, given the joyful chaos that plays out on screen. We end up getting used to it following a while, and if this concern is not dramatic, we must recognize that it is a recurring fault in Mario football games.
Pre-match preparation, more important than ever
Fortunately, it is not just on the pitch that things have become more complex, since the pre-match now plays a more decisive role. First of all, the team composition has been changed somewhat since the Gamecube and Wii episodes, which gives it a great strategic aspect. Previously, we first chose a captain, then the other teammates were creatures like Koopas, Maskass or Boos. From now on, each member of your team is an important figure in the Mario universe and no longer a simple minion. And since each character has their own strength, speed, or shot stats, selection is crucial. Thus, it can be interesting to put a heavy weight behind to defend, two fast players on the sides to quickly reach the opponents’ cages and finish with a good point shooter.
Generally, stats play a bigger role than ever in this Switch episode, as evidenced by the addition of gear. Now each character can wear different armor pieces which directly influence these stats. Well, even if with that you can’t make Bowser fast with that, these elements make it possible to attenuate the faults of your players or on the contrary, to accentuate their strong points. And to unlock them, you must first buy them one by one for gold coins that can be collected in several ways.
A little light content at launch?
If for the moment the title seems solid thanks to its game mechanics, we can not say that it seems as complete in terms of its content, at least, from what we might see. During our session, it seemed to us that only ten characters will be playable at launch, which means that we risk often crossing the same faces with these small teams of four players. Similar observation on the side of the equipment since five unique sets were shown to us, which makes only twenty pieces of armor in total. Finally, we can also make this observation with the stages which are five in number. Of course, this is just a preview and it’s possible that the game may contain hidden content without our knowing it, so take these comments with a grain of salt.
At first glance, all this may seem a bit light for a title that seems to want to live over time given the technicality of its mechanics. However, when we look at the other Mario sports games on Switch, we have reason to be reassured. If we take Mario Tennis Aces for example, the latter saw its number of characters double thanks to free DLC released regularly during the year following its launch. Same thing for Mario Golf : Super Rush which has been the subject of several additional contents to add new players and courses. So, for this Mario Strikers: Battle League Football, we can expect a similar treatment, with regular free DLC, to maintain the hype during the months following the release of the title. However, we remind you that for the moment, Nintendo has not said if additional content is planned in the future and therefore it is only speculation.
Nos impressions
After playing for an hour, it seems clear that Mario Strikers: Battle League Football has what it takes to be one of the most fun multiplayer games on the Switch. If we find the joyful chaos of previous episodes, the gameplay gains in complexity to allow its online mode to remain relevant over time. However, this new episode does not forget to remain accessible, so that everyone can have fun without taking the lead. It remains to be seen whether the content will not be too light at launch and whether additional free content is planned in the months following the launch. In any case, see you next June 10 to get your hands on the final version of the title, which promises to be exciting.
Editorial review
Exciting
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