Mario Strikers: Battle League Reviews
Mario Strikers: Battle League Football is a thrilling take on the football genre, with more end-to-end thrills than FIFA could ever hope for, as well as the chaotic energy that the classic Super Mario items provide. But a stingy offering of single-player modes mean that this is only really worthwhile for those wanting to dive into online multiplayer.
Mario Strikers: Battle League makes its long-awaited return as a deliriously fun and accessible soccer game that's packed with character customization and online modes.
Overall, Mario: Strikers Battle League is a good game that needs more to do. It may be a much better game a year from now, but right now, it is noticeably lacking content.
I was really looking forward to Mario Strikers: Battle League, and for the most part it has been a worthy successor, but it's a little hampered by the complexity of the gameplay. Even scoring goals can be a bit difficult overall. Soccer is definitely not known for high-scoring affairs but it is simply too difficult to score goals in the time allotted. This does seem to be different from what I remember in the previous games. It was a bit easier to score goals and that is definitely missed. There's a balance that sports games need to strike, but Battle League does tend to be just a bit more difficult. Still, there is a lot to love about Mario Strikers: Battle League, but it almost made me want a remaster of the first two games more than anything.
We finally have a sequel to Mario Strikers Charged, but the Switch outing lacks content and interesting items to keep this soccer game engaging.
Mario Strikers: Battle League presents a shockingly deep take on Soccer held up by some incredibly charming and expressive character animations. Sadly there's not much to see outside of the core loop, and can quickly wear out its welcome as things start to feel too repetitive.
Rather than the triumphant return of a fan-favorite franchise, Battle League claims its slow season spot in Nintendo's calendar as just another sports game. If Mario Strikers saw a new release every year, there'd be a problem, but it's been well over a decade since the last entry in the series. Yes, it's more of the same, but when "the same" is so fun-and so hard to put down after just one match-more of the same is more than welcome, even if the game isn't as creative or ambitious as one might hope.
Another example of Nintendo giving the players a game that seems interesting on the outside but is kind of empty inside. Mario Strikers has some updates planned, but I really hope that the big N understands one day that a full price should mean a complete game. Still, I won’t lie – Mario Strikers provides lots of fun, because its core gameplay is good.
Review in Polish | Read full review
Mario Strikers: Battle League is a fun time that is easy enough for anybody to pickup and play but still without depth to mean it should keep an audience engaged for a long period of time. It's a little lacking in the single player department, but it's doing some interesting things in the online space to make up for it.
The core gameplay of Mario Strikers: Battle League is fast and frenetic, keeping your palms sweaty as you battle with your Nintendo favourites in an intense game of soccer. It’s flashy and well animated in all the best ways, with that trademark personality and charm carrying it a long way. It’s also a wonderful example of “easy to learn, difficult to master”, that starts simple but has some reasonable depth, even within the confines of its short matches. It’s a shame then that there just isn’t much more meat on the bone; with offline modes extremely limited with only quick play and tournaments, you’re going to have to truly love the mechanics to justify spending a lot of your time in competitive multiplayer. For those with a lot of mates to kick around with, that might be enough, but for everybody else, it’s a yellow card.
Mario Strikers Battle League is a lot of fun, but unless you commit to online play, it’s here for a good — but brief — time.
Next Level Games has created a solid foundation for a title, but that’s all it is: a foundation. It’s a barren representation of what could be.
This simple set of manoeuvres is full of nuance, allowing for incredible plays and some serious mind-games, making it more like a fighting game than anything else.
Mario Strikers Battle Leagues adds a few new wrinkles to the original Strikers formula, and does in a tight and well-presented package. While it may disappoint those expecting more variety and a soccer component, fans of Nintendo fighters and the attack/counterattack battle system genre will feel at home here.
Mario Strikers: Battle League Football excels on the field, but it struggles to make a compelling offer for solo players or anyone not willing to invest time in forming and maintaining a Strikers Club. It's just pick-up-and-play enough to work as a party game with mates and it's compelling to watch in action, but the lack of embellishments is sure to hurt its long-term appeal.
With such solid and explosive gameplay, Mario Strikers: Battle League Football represents a decisive step forward for the franchise.
Review in Italian | Read full review
It remains to be seen how exactly the online create-a-club stuff pans out in terms of competition, but as a same-room couch jam Mario Strikers: Battle League Football gets better and better the more you play. A surprisingly deep, chaotic bit of Mario Sports action.
Mario Strikers: Battle League is a fun and chaotic experience let down by a lack of content and personality.
Some will love the surprising amount of depth that Mario Strikers: Battle League Football offers, but those expecting something they can easily pick up and play perhaps won’t be as enamoured. It’s the lack of modes that’s the real kicker here, though. In addition to some other minor issues, it makes for a game that just doesn’t fulfil on its potential. Still, if you’re after a game that serves up a variation of football that is full of over the top action, there’s little in the way of competition.
Battle League Football is a game I'm happy to see, even if it isn't necessarily the game I wanted. A far more technical game that I don't feel I have the time to master, it sits in a weird spot of not necessarily being bad in its gameplay execution, but falling short on the content required to keep people coming back. I do feel in time that this game has the potential to become great, but we again see a Mario sports game held back by being released half-baked.