If you're new to the Mario Strikers series, it follows the Mario Sports Formula fairly closely—start with Sport X, add Mario, Luigi, Bowser, Wario and a number of Nintendo B-listers like Boo and Shy Guy, throw out most of the rules, make it easy for anyone to control. Mario Strikers Charged not only perfects the Mario Sports Formula it kicks it up a notch by adding a nearly seamless 4-player online component.

The game's art style is "extreme" with gameplay a close match. It's frantic and fun and took me by surprise. I lean closer to a soccer anti-fan more than I do for any other team sport, yet Mario Strikers Charged quickly rocketed to the top of my summer Wii purchases.

For fans of the series, you'll want to know about a few changes. In addition to new team captains like Bowser and Diddy Kong, you'll be able to customize your teams with the sidekicks of your choice. New second-stringers include Dry Bones and Monty Mole. Charged's eight new interactive stadiums add additional chaos to the Mario Sports Formula, with player crushing Thwomps, flying cows and lava pits wreaking havoc on both teams and adding a new strategic element to certain stages.

Mario Strikers Charged uses the Wii-remote and nunchuk, with little in the way of waggle to make the soccer title unnecessarily complicated. Players can flick the remote to knock over other players but the rest of the control scheme follows a simple, traditional set up. Passing is done with the A button, goal attempts with B (held down to charge a Mega Strike), Z chips the ball and C performs character specific special moves.

The Wii remote is used as a pointer in one additional way, blocking Mega Strike shots. After a short, somewhat jarring cutscene, the action will change to a first-person view and require quick reflexes to stop incoming shots.

Online play was, as I mentioned earlier, mostly seamless. We played a handful of multiplayer matches with Nintendo of America employees in Redmond and experienced no noticeable lag, but did see a few dropped frames.

Mario Strikers Charged is a solid addition to the Nintendo Sports Formula and looks to be a great multiplayer title. Michael McWhertor