Mario Strikers: Charged Football

Platform: Wii
Verdict: Football but not as you know it.
Rating: 3½/5
After years of rescuing Princess Peach from the clutches of Bowser and various other nefarious villains, it feels slightly wrong to start shoulder barging her into electrical fences but in the case of Mario Strikers: Charged Football, attack is definitely the best means of defence (and you're more than likely to be on the receiving end of her studded pink pumps anyway).
Taking football as its starting point and adding a dash of Americanised shoulder pad aggression then chucking most of the rules out of the window, Charged Football is a surreal and explosive take on the (allegedly) beautiful game that plays more like a cute version of the classic Speedball than Beckham's favourite past time.
With an emphasis on aggressive gameplay and oodles of special moves, football as you know it has been transformed into a scrappy but entertaining romp in the Mushroom Kingdom, filled with familiar faces from Mario's history and packed with multiplayer fun.
Alongside the traditional football staples of pass, shoot, tackle etc, Mario Strikers adds new strategic elements such as power-ups and pass charging. Power-ups allow you to drop bananas, become a giant or fire out shells (with obvious benefits) and pass charging makes the ball more accurate and powerful with every successive pass between your players.
If you find yourself on the losing end (or just want to increase your lead) Megastrikes are available which, if the shoot button is held long enough, allow you to fire a volley of successive balls at the opponents goal. Success is determined by a golf style power meter and can land you with five goals at once but for those worried about balance, it is easy enough to prevent but entertaining to do.
As a single player game, Mario Strikers feels slightly lacking but remains fun nonetheless. At its heart it's a multiplayer game and that's where it excels - as the first online game for the Wii it showcases a robust and intuitive service and provides hours of slapstick entertainment between friends round the TV or online.
Now that's what I call beautiful.