Our editor in chief John Benyamine is impatiently awaiting the arrival of EA's FIFA 06 for the Xbox 360 but it's by no means the only soccer game in town. Nintendo's Super Mario Strikers promises to be quite entertaining in its own right, if for nothing else than to experience the sport as it was meant to be played, that is, with electrified fences, banana peels, a fire breathing Bowser, and Matrix-like special attacks. Maybe then, North America would actually watch it.

Like most Nintendo themed sports titles, Super Mario Strikers (known as SMS from now on) takes rules and happily bends them to fit the theme of the Mushroom Kingdom. Similar to Mario Baseball, you can select a team captain from a list which includes Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Wario, Waluigi, Donkey Kong, Daisy, and Peach, then choose from a handful of character types to comprise your team, such as the Koopas, Toads, Hammer Bros., or Birdos. Then it's off to the field, a well manicured and lusciously green stretch of land housed within the confines of a stadium packed with familiar faces from the Mario universe, but what ensues in these games is anything but sportsmanlike. Rather, the same violence that sometimes occurs in the stands of some of these soccer matches has been transferred to the field and lots of characters are going to get busted up. But thankfully, they'll get back up again.

The core strategy behind soccer remains the same; to score more goals than your opponent, except in SMS it's by any means necessary. Since the game is devoid of penalties, you shouldn't have any qualms slide tackling someone from behind or even worse, slamming them into the good old electrified fence, which will send numerous high powered jolts through the body of the hapless victim, causing him or her to goofily wiggle about. That's just one of the naughty things you can do and it's one of the best, but it's not cool just because you can torture people. With no out of bounds the action is very rarely interrupted, which keeps things running at a super brisk pace.

Another thing you'll have to watch out for are the various weapons. Much like the Mario Kart games, you can acquire a host of power-ups that'll foil the opposition, so while it's difficult enough actually maneuvering the ball past several hungry defenders, you'll also need to worry about red shells, banana peels, tilting fields, and even a pissed off Bowser who is more than willing to light everyone on fire with his blast furnace breath. And the team that's behind will more than likely receive the coolest items, so just because you have a five point lead doesn't mean it's a comfortable advantage. At many moment the momentum can shift and you'll be lying in a blast crater, because in SMS, you're not so much a player as you are a war veteran, as your winning team will deserve to be decorate for bravery after the game's over.

On offense, each player has to ability to perform a Super Strike kick, a devastating maneuver where the action slows down, the camera cuts to dramatic shots of the threatening character, and a powerful kick's unleashed. Similar to FIFA Street's Gamebreakers the Super Strike kicks can be blocked, but more often than not these high velocity shots will knock your goalie on his butt and result in a GOOAALLL!

Speaking of the goalie, you can only control him when he has the ball, so you've really got to play excellent defense in order to keep the other team away from him. However, he does put up quite a fight, though his energy levels will rise and fall throughout a game and that's probably related to how much punishment he takes. But God help you if you wander too close to him because he'll lay you out quicker than a phone wielding Russell Crowe.

Similar to just about every Nintendo game, SMS is extremely easy to play. It has a sweet pick up and play nature to it that allows anyone to hop right in and cause mayhem. However, there will obviously be those master players that'll know when the right time to use a weapon or special attack is, and that'll separate the crap (me) from the elites (my little brother). But it's really good, clean fun. It's the type of game that'll no doubt frustrate the hell out of me the more I play, but it's too damn cute and exciting to chuck at a wall.

Aside from simple exhibition games there's plenty of additional content to check out. Grudge Match is your standard SMS soccer experience and that allows you to just hop into a quick game, but there's also Cup Battles which let you compete in various tournaments, Super Cup Battles that are basically much longer tournaments, Custom Battles, where up to eight people can vie for SMS supremacy, and finally Strikers 101, an expansive tutorial mode that'll allow you to learn the ropes, so to speak. There's also unlockable content, secret teams, new cup challenges, power ups, stadiums, and cheats, but Nintendo's mum on what those will be.

SMS is the type of soccer game I will really get into because it features the thrills of the sport without all of the penalty/out of bounds crap that makes it so boring. Look for the GameDaily review shortly before its December 5 release.