E3 impressions - Mario Super Sluggers

All Nintendo fans pretty much know how the Big N’s sports titles work by now. You can a real sport, strip down the simulation elements until you are left with the basic game, throw in a ton of Nintendo references, and you are set. We’ve already seen Mario and friends take on baseball, but this time around, we have motion-sensing to aid us in the gameplay. My time spent with the title was definitely fun, but it wasn’t anything fantastic.

When I played Super Mario Strikers, I was floored by how much I enjoyed the game. I was hoping to get that same enthusiasm from Sluggers, but it just wasn’t there. I don’t know that that’s the fault of Nintendo. I have a feeling that it has more to do with teh sport of baseball. With Soccer, everyone is always going after the ball…always kicking it around. In Baseball, one person pitches and the other hits. I always feel like I am waiting to get to the more fun part…which, for me is, the batting.

I do enjoy the motion controls though. The wind-up/pitch and swing-back/strike motions that you go through help to make the game a bit more strategic than you would think. With the aid of this two-part motion, you can bring in power pitches, special pitches, bunts, slams, and special strikes. When playing against the CPU it’s not as fun, but a two-player game definitely spices things up. I actually throughly enjoyed my quick two-player session.

Just as before, teh different stadiums bring in all sorts of obstacles. There’s an ice field, a city them, a traditional park, and a lot more. We have had extensive coverage of the game on GoNintendo, so I’m sure you know what to expect from the different stadiums. There are also tons of characters to pick from, as well. Grab your captain, pick your team, and mix/match them as you want on the field. The customization is actually pretty deep, and with some characters working together with one another, there is once again an element of strategy.

To my surprise, I actually enjoyed some of the minigames as well. There are some games that honestly seemed compelling, and I could see myself getting some friends together and losing an hour or two playing these. One game in particular reminded me a lot of Monkey Target from the Monkey Ball series. One person would hit the ball, while three others were in the outfield. The field was littered will all different scoring portions. The batter’s job was to knock the ball into a high-scoring section, and then the outfielders would all race to grab it. Whoever had the ball at the end of a few seconds would then be the next up to bat. The outfielders could attack one-another, and the batter could launch items into the outfield to screw them up. After the end of a few sessions, the person with the highest score wins. Simple enough to play, but hard to master.

Mario Super Sluggers should end up being a decent Summer title to look forward to. We may soon forget about it a month later with some other big titles coming, but between the minigames, story mode and more, you may end up quite pleased.