Mario Strikers Battle League Football Preview: We played probably the best multiplayer game of the year on Nintendo Switch on Switch

preview Mario Strikers Battle League Football: We played probably the best multiplayer game of the year on Nintendo Switch

If you’ve never tried any game from the Mario Strikers sub-series, rest assured, it’s very simple. First, imagine a classic football game with two teams of five players, including goalkeepers. From there, all you have to do is forget yellow, red, or offside cardshere all shots are allowed, the referee and the VAR are absent subscribers. Only one thing counts on the field: score more goals than your opponents, regardless of the means used to win the ball, be it through fierce duels or thanks to objects à la Mario Kart.

Obviously, as in 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. Ultimately, you have to acknowledge that“A lot of the fun of the experience comes mainly from the often very funny cheers and reactions from the players when there’s a goal . If we have the common basis of all Mario Football games, this Switch episode brings a large number of new features to bring unprecedented depth to the gameplay.

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Deeper gameplay

Overall, Mario Strikers: Battle League Football remains similar to its predecessors it brings enough subtleties to breathe new life into the formula. For example, all moves now have an improved version when executed with perfect timing, for example both dribbling and passing. Shots become more technical as 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 look modified in how they work, since it is now necessary to recover an object before activating them, while the opposing goalkeeper can send them back by pressing the A key. But rest assured, the essence has not changed since the animations of the celebrations. Reactions and the Hyper Strikes are always so fun and impressive.

Beyond these subtleties The title features new moves to add even more depth to the gameplay. When the lob shot stops happening, we find the lob pass, the free pass, as well as the charged tackle, which allows a player to push another player so that he recovers the ball from an opponent. While these gestures are sometimes technically placed in the middle of the game, they can be very useful in certain situations for those who have mastered the game mechanics perfectly. Conversely, certain movements aimed at balance matches have been made less effective. To that end, the developers introduced Stamina, which limits the number of dribbles and sprints players can chain. Using it too often will eventually tire your characters, so it’s best to use it sparingly. In addition, the race has also been modified since it takes the form of dashes rather than a sprint, giving 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 don’t intend to drop the title right away. However, rest assured that we are still facing a Mario game whose goal is always to be very accessible so that everyone can quickly have fun simply by grabbing a controller. Nonetheless, given the joyous chaos unfolding on screen, the plot is sometimes complicated to understand at first. We get used to it after a while, and if that concern isn’t dramatic, we have to recognize that it’s a recurring bug in Mario soccer games.

Preparation for the game, more important than ever

Fortunately, things have not only become more complex on the pitch as the pre-match now plays a more crucial role. First, The team composition has changed somewhat since the Gamecube and Wii episodes, giving it a great strategic aspect. We used to choose a captain first, then the other teammates were creatures like Koopas, Maskass or Boos. From now on, every member of your team is an important figure in the Mario universe and no longer just a simple servant. And since each character has their own strength, speed, or shot stats, choice is key. So it can be interesting to put a heavy weight behind to defend, two fast players on the sides to quickly reach opponents’ cages and finish with a good scorer.

General, 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 that directly affect these stats. Well, even if you can’t make Bowser fast with them, these elements allow you to mitigate your players’ mistakes or, on the contrary, emphasize their strengths. And to unlock them, you must first buy them individually for gold coins, which can be collected in a variety of ways.

A little light content at launch?

If the title seems solid at the moment thanks to its game mechanics, We can’t say it seems that complete in content, at least from what we’ve been able to see. During our session, it seemed to us that only ten characters would be playable at launch, meaning we risk often crossing the same faces with these small teams of four players. A similar observation on the gear side, as we were shown five unique sets, for a total of only twenty armor pieces. Finally, we can make this observation with the five stages as well. Of course, this is just a preview and it’s possible that the game contains hidden content without our knowing, so take these comments with caution.

At first glance, all this may seem a bit light for a title that seems to want to live with the passage of time, given the technicality of its mechanics. However, if we look at the other Mario sports games on Switch, we have reason to calm down. Take Mario Tennis Aces for example, the latter has doubled the number of characters thanks to the free DLC that is regularly released in the year following its release. The same goes for Mario Golf: Super Rush, which has been the subject of several additional contents to add new players and courses. So, We can expect similar treatment for this Mario Strikers: Battle League Football, with regular free DLCto keep the hype going in the months following the title’s release. However, we remind you that at the moment Nintendo has not said if more content is planned in the future and therefore it is only speculation.

Pre-order Mario Strikers: Battle League Football on Amazon