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Good: Multiplayer, controls

Bad: Lack of single-layer breadth

Hope you have: Friends

Super Mario Strikers joins the long line of Mario sports and recreation titles, trying to make its presence known in a holiday season that is arguably the worst in the Gamecube's five-season span. Does it provide enough fun to lead the pack or does it merely fall in line?

Strikers boots up with all the Mushroom Kingdom trimmings and trappings you'd expect from a Mario sports title. You can choose from one-game grudge matches or enter cup mode, where you'll be able to play tournament style to unlock stadiums, characters and more cups.

Actually, Strikers borrows from the Mario Kart mold more than it does anything else. You must win the Gold to unlock more cups and the rest of the unlockables unfold in a similar fashion. There are hazards, too. Sometimes Bowser will fall from the sky in gigantic form to breathe fire on all those in his way. What's even more, the items that you can pick up on the field range from triple shells to mushrooms to stars to bob-ombs. You can use these at any time to foil your opponents, much like in Kart. They don't provide quite the satisfaction of Kart items since the on-field action never reaches a comparable intensity level of the time-tested Mario Kart formula.

At the onset of each tournament, you can choose your captain from a handful of characters including the brothers Mario, Wario, Waluigi, Peach, Daisy, Donkey Kong and Yoshi. Then you must choose from Hammer Bros., Toads, Birdos and Koopas to represent the other three teammates. Unfortunately, the three teammates must be of the same type. I am not sure what greater purpose that serves.

All the fundamental lobs, shots, passes, dropkick combos, dekes and slide tackles you'd expect from a basic soccer game appear and come off without a hitch. In fact, the game is pretty brutal. Since there are no real penalties for anything, you can lay big hits on your opponent to your heart's content. If you hit someone into the wall, it becomes electrified for an extra zing and impedance.

The captain of your team is the only one equipped with a special super shot. When you're relatively in the clear, charging the B button brings up a Madden-esque kick meter where you have to stop the meter twice, once in each small green area. You're then treated to a slow motion cinematic featuring this super cool looking shot. If you stopped the meter in both of the green areas, it's an automatic score of two.

There isn't a lot of depth to Strikers' options. After you race through the cups and unlock the disappointingly few stadiums and extra characters (which you could accomplish in two or three sittings), there's no real franchise-like mode to keep one player glued to the screen (although the field tilting cheat is worth mentioning.) And although the super-accessible controls make it immediately likable, Strikers' staying power purely depends on having friends to play with. And at that, Strikers succeeds with flying colors.

Visually, the game is fairly numbing. The general art style is consistent and colorful, but isn't pushing the Gamecube to any sort of limit. Thankfully, widescreen owners will benefit from the 16:9 mode which is beneficial in any sports title. The lack of stadiums and the lack of detail the few have are disappointing. The sound effects and music are pleasing, but nothing more. Again, themes are ripped from the Mario universe with no intention of advancing it.

Strikers should be experienced with friends. It's that simple. The worth of playing alone doesn't come near the asking price, so if you don't have any friends, don't bother. However, Mario sports fanatics and people who love arcade-like multiplayer sports games will find substantial value in Mario's latest endeavor.

Graphics: B-

Sound: B-

First Play: A-

Last Play: B

Gameplay: B

Overall: 85% B