Game Review: Super Mario Sluggers

Billy O'Keefe - Mclatchy -Tribune News Service

Mario Super Sluggers

For: Nintendo Wii

From: Namco Bandai/Nintendo

ESRB Rating: Everyone

Given the bounty of surprisingly decent baseball games arriving so late in the season, it's paramount that each stands out for reasons beyond decency, surprising or otherwise.

"Mario Super Sluggers" conquers that problem simply by being what it is: a baseball game starring Mario, Bowser, Donkey Kong and other Mushroom Kingdom citizens. But while that alone may be enough to sell faithful fans of "Mario"-branded sports games, "Sluggers'" ability to build on this unique foundation and pad the game with some meaningful content is what makes it worth a look from the rest of us.

Among "Sluggers'" better features: a strange story mode that has you, as Mario, completing baseball-related challenges and recruiting a team capable of knocking off Bowser Jr.'s invading army of baseball-playing thugs. You won't play a ton of real baseball here, but the variety of challenges and sense of progression that comes from completing them makes this a great addition to the game's more standard options.

"Sluggers'" other modes are a bit more mixed. A collection of mini-games is all over the map in terms of quality, but the multiple levels and difficulty settings, as well as full record-keeping support, give the good ones life beyond the curiosity period. A Toy Field mode serves as a more complicated - and more poorly documented - mini-game that's ill-fit for solo players, but once you figure out how it works, it's a pretty cool party game. (Everything about "Sluggers" fits the multiplayer bill, though the puzzling lack of online support means you're restricted only to playing those in the same room as you.)

In terms of pure baseball, "Sluggers" mostly delivers. The limited control scheme from "Wii Sports" is available to those who want it, but "Sluggers" adeptly piles on the trimmings - baserunning, fielding, pickoff plays and character-specific special moves - when you use the nunchuck attachment. Though you'll never be privy to the same degree of tinkering more serious baseball sims afford, "Sluggers" allows for a surprisingly clean game of baseball, and you can disable the goofy star powers and "Mario Kart"-style interference items if you want a game that's free of cheap gimmicks.

Best of all: "Sluggers" supports your Mii characters, who can participate in regular games and mini-games. The only drawback: While characters from the "Mario" universe have special abilities and distinct attributes, every Mii character has the same stock set of advantages and disadvantages.

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