If my previous reviews were a wall of text, beware - this is a very large wall. Here is the review of one of the most anticipated games of '08, and perhaps of all time. Super Smash Bros. BrawlPublished by: NintendoReleased: 3/09/08 (US)Genre: FightingPlayers: 1-4 Way, WAY back in 2006, there was this game trailer revealed that had the fanboys wetting themselves over the awesomeness; the game was Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the next game after the critically acclaimed predecessor, Melee, and the characters introduced were making some cry out with joy and others wonder who they were (Pit and Pit, respectively). Now, two years later and about a dozen release date push backs, one of the most anticipated games on the Wii and perhaps of gaming history has been released here in the United States. I’m glad to say that the wait was well worth it. At first glance, one would say that Brawl doesn’t look particularly amazing in the graphics department. While this may be true, the true beauty of this game comes out in action. What this game loses in raw realism it makes up for in detailed and highly stylized graphics. Each character has a design to call their own, from the simple Mario overalls to the futuristic garb of Fox; the amount of detail placed into the costumes is surprising and refreshing. Stages themselves look amazing as well, each one being very unique and detailed. Fans will enjoy seeing locals such as Delfino Plaza, Shadow Moses Island and Castle Siege, the Fire Emblem stage, crafted with such great detail. Unfortunately, all of this detail doesn’t help some stages, as they can become too busy and help to detract from the actual fighting. The music of the game is hands-down fantastic, if only for the immense fan service. From the instant the opening theme plays, the word “EPIC†only begins to describe the effort placed into the soundtrack alone. While many of the tracks are remixes of songs from previous games or synthesized versions of classic songs, they are still good, well produced songs. Some of the music has even been taken directly from the game, such as Battle In the Base, Sonic Boom and Ricco Harbor. While there are definitely going to be songs that you do not like, you have the ability to switch them off in a handy “My Music†option, as well as increase the likelihood of your favorite track playing. This game is amazing even before playing it. The moment you place your favorite characters in the ring, this game becomes almost divine. Gameplay remains more or less unchanged from the previous entrys; forgoing the normal health bar of typical fighters, each strike increases a percentage for your opponent and, the higher the percentage, the further one is sent flying. The goal is to hit someone hard enough once they have suffered enough damage and send them flying off of the stage or upwards, depleting a life from them. However, you must ensure that you do not have the same happen to you. YOU MUST RECOVER! Every combatant has, in addition to aerial and ground moves used with the A button, four special moves used with the B button and a directional imput. For example, Samus’ neutral B move makes begin to charge up her laser, while her Side B launches a missile. These moves can help spell the difference between victory and defeat, and learning how to use these moves properly will make your job easier. While some may appear to be useless at the start, it’s a matter of learning the scenarios where they can be effective and practicing their use. The character roster is an amazing 35 characters, 21 of which are unlocked from the start. Returning fighters play out similarly to their Melee counterparts with a few moves swaps and tweaks and will feel very good in the hands of a previous Pikachu mainer. However, the dreaded clones still exist to a certain degree. While these “Cloned†characters, those who have the same moves as another, previous fighter, still remain, most have been “Luigified,†or changed on some levels. Thankfully though, everyone has a very different feel and the incredible balance between all characters means that everyone can find someone that they like and have a good chance in the battlefield…the tiers of the previous game have been largely done away with. Of all of the fighters, very few have actually brought a radically new playing style to them: Captain Olimar of Pikmin fame gains his power from an entourage of Pikmin and is powerless without them, Solid Snake of Metal Gear fame is a very tactical fighter with the ability to use C4 and mines for sabotage and grenades and missiles for combat, and Pokemon Trainer who switches between three Pokemon fighters, each with a wildly different playstyle. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, when improving over Melee, it feels as if something more could have been done. Still, the fundamental differences between characters still makes everyone play out so much differently that they might as well have different fighting mechanics. On the field of battle, one has many tools to use for combat in the form of items. These items, ranging from a lightsaber-esque Beam Sword to the friendly Pokeball are very useful and can easily turn the battle in your favor. This time around, many of the items can backfire; the shrinking Lightning from Mario Kart can shrink you, and the slowing Stopwatch can slow you down or just fail to work. This helps to balance out some of the might from Melee, but they still feel too powerful and cheap in some cases. You can now move while using the Fire Flower or Super Scope, making both items now devastating if used correctly. New to the game is the introduction of Assist Trophies and the Final Smash Ball. Assist Trophies house a random character like Shadow or Tingle who hop onto the battlefield with their use, offering up an attack or distraction that varies wildly between the summoned character. Some are useful, like Lyn or Gray Fox, others are destructive, like Andross. Some are just annoying as all hell, like Nintendog who covers the entire screen wanting affection, Devil, who skews the camera, and Mr. Resseti, who rants, blocking a good portion of the screen. While this is to be expected, some could have been done without or an option to select who is called, much like the item switch, could have been used. Final Smashes are an interesting new addition to the field of battle; every so often, a glowing ball with the Smash Brothers logo on it appears – the first one to wail on this enough and break it is granted a Final Smash. These attacks differ from character to character, but they are all very deadly and unique. Samus fires a destructive, all-encompassing Zero Beam before transforming into Zero Suit Samus, Bowser transforms into Giga Bowser, Ice Climbers summon a frigid iceberg and King Dedede calls out his Waddle Dee Army for an attack. These are a lover-or-hate kind of thing. For some, they may be a useful attack and reward those who can smash the Smash Ball with a powerful attack. For others, they may be a cheap method to guarantee a kill for those lucky enough to smash the Smash Ball. Personally, they seem like an interesting addition and must be used correctly to be truly effective. Though, you may oftentimes find yourself wanting a Final Smash just so that someone else doesn’t get one – they range from utterly useless to almighty. The stages of Brawl are very different from Melee in that almost all of them will change over time. Even the basic Battlefield changes the time of the day, while some, like Delfino Plaza, drop you off at various locations, mixing up the playing field. Each stage is very different, but some of them seem more annoying than anything else – 75m from Donkey Kong is large and busy with very little foot room, Mario Bros has turtles and crabs that can kill you almost instantly and KOs from the side are difficult, and Hanenbow, as much as I love it, is a very confusing stage wherein the platforms can move and the water below will kill many an attempted swimmer. A new addition to the series is a Stage Builder which lets you create your own maps for brawling. Unfortunately, this feature is extremely limited in the number of pieces you can unlock, the unimpressive pieces that are unlocked, and the relatively small size of the stages. You will never be able to create a masterpiece stage or a complex one like New Pork City, but this does allow you to abuse some of the game features, such as a CD Factory stage or a Cage Match stage, which can be very fun. Dedede at 713% never gets old. Many of the other features that have been added feel somewhat gimmicky, but are still interesting and noteworthy. Coin Launcher allows you to use collected coins in an arcade-style game to obtain more Trophies and Stickers, Stickers being a secondary Trophy and an augmentation in the Subspace Emissary. Masterpieces allow you to demo some of the more famous Nintendo games, as well as to see where some of the oddball characters like Pit, Ice Climbers and Captain Falcon originate from. These are very pointless, as they range from 30 seconds long to 5 minutes long, not nearly enough time to fully enjoy the games. Chronicle mode is a glorified advertisement/history of Nintendo games. Challenges thankfully tell you how to unlock many of the hidden aspects of the game, such as stages, characters and music, making it finally possible to get everything without consulting GameFAQs. The main gameplay modes of Brawl remain the same with the large exception of the new adventure mode, the Subspace Emissary. In this, the land of smashdom is being overrun by the forces of the Subspace, and it’s up to Mario and the Brawl crew to fight back the forces and find out everything about these new antagonists. The stages boil down to side-scrolling beat-um-ups; your selected character moves from one point to another, beating the crap out of a mob of foes before reaching the end of the stage and an accompanying boss taken from Nintendo games, such as Ridley or Petey Piranha. The boss fights are the highlight of this adventure, as the side scrolling and light puzzle elements feel very out of place and are aggravating at best. Even more aggravating is the lack of any real story. Oh, there’s supposed to be a story, but it’s so vague and unimpressive that it just feels like a series of silent but awesome cutscenes. There is not voice acting, so emotion is conveyed via gestures and facial expressions, leaving you guessing as to what exactly is supposed to be happening. There are a bunch of theories as to what it’s supposed to mean, but when you are coming up with theories for a story, the story has failed for me. In the end, it’s a cool addition, just a very bland and unnecessary one, and that’s a real disappointment. Other modes remain similar to the Melee versions, but each have slight changes to better balance them. Classic mode remains, but the matches are now randomized and have done away with all events other than Break the Targets. All-Star mode remains intact and no real differences can be seen in it. Events also remain, but the ability to change the difficulty as well as a co-op feature keep them from feeling too old. Break the Targets now only have five levels of increasing difficulty, a very lame change from the individualized stages from previous games. Home-Run Contest stays the same, but co-op and a barrier that prevents the Sandbag from being knocked out too early have been introduced. Multi-Man Brawl stays the same in pitting you against a mass of computer foes either under time limits, a kill limit or against the hardest computers in the game, now with the ability to play with a friend. The multiplayer end of things has stayed roughly the same, though it feels a bit easier to access now. You can go up against three other friends of computers with nine difficulty levels on the 41 different stages with either a time limit, a life limit, or a mad dash for coins that fly out from your opponent. You can choose what items are on, as well as a multiplier for damage and a few other features, as well. All of this remains the same from Melee except for the Special Mode that allows you to mix and match features such as slow time and giant. Perhaps one of the more saddening losses, for me at least, is the removal of the various scores that one received for doing special things, such as for hogging items or taunting a lot. Not much, but I miss it. Still though, the most anticipated feature of the latest game may very well be the addition of WiFi play. With this, you can now play against people across the world, allowing once and for all a easy and true method for finding the best Brawler out there. The playability of the online aspects first starts with your Internet connection – a pretty good one is required for lag free play, and, even at that, others may have poor connections, so lag is still evident. Thankfully, it’s fairly minimal for most matches. Secondly, you need to have a fair amount of skill. Sometimes, the “With Everyone†form of online will bring you masters of the game, while you may go up against complete novices the next. It’s fairly random and not really serious fighting because of this, though many people fail to see that. You can also choose to watch the match in “Spectator†mode, betting coins on the winner, though some people like to screw up the results by suiciding or taunting the whole match. The second option for online fighting, “With Friends,†requires the dreaded Friend Codes in order to work. But, after the tediousness of this, it works off quite well with you being able to fight against friends or have a serious match with an unknown person from a forum. Perhaps even more entertaining is the ability to assign messages to your four taunts. Expect to see “OVER 9000â€ÂÂ, “That’s what she said!†“lol n00bâ€ÂÂ, “WTF!?â€ÂÂ, “YOU MUST RECOVER!†and all of your favorite ones liners with this. For both modes, stages are voted on, and the stage with the most votes is selected. Should there be a tie, the stage is selected at random from the tying stages. In waiting for your matches, everyone can wait in a lobby and beat up on a poor Sandbag. In the end though, the online service is only average, as lag, annoyance, and a lack of many of the bells and whistles offered by every other online game seriously hampers an otherwise fun experience. After all is said and done, Super Smash Brothers Brawl is a very excellent game. The stylized and detailed graphics, the amazing music, great character roster, basic yet complex fighting, balanced mechanics, a variety of options and modes and many new additions to the series is balanced out by a subpar adventure mode, some unnecessary and gimmicky additions and an average online service. Why this then gets a eight is simply for the quality of what was done right. Things that were done wrong are not very game breaking and are minor nitpicks. This game can easily be enjoyed by anyone and everyone; the serious gamer who mastered Mewtwo in Melee, the kid with no friends, the dood looking for the next party favor, heck, even parents and casual gamers may find themselves picking up a sword and joining the Brawl. The sheer amount of content is astounding, and the quality of everything, good or bad, is amazing. This game is fantastic, hands-down game-of-the-year. I may not go as far as to call it the best game ever, but it does a real good job at convincing me otherwise. “Interrupting Falcon wh-“ “PAWNCH! Come on!†Presentation, 9/10: Everything is crisp, clean and easy to understand. The only possible flaw is that certain features are sometimes hard to locate, but that's a very minor flaw. Graphics, 9/10: What Brawl loses in non-Crysis graphics, it makes up for it in the many different designs and the level of detail contained in every little thing. Sound, 10/10: If you've ever played a Nintendo game, the soundtrack will be the stuff of gods. If you haven't, it will simply be one of the best soundtracks you will have heard in a long time. Gameplay, 9/10: Characters are well ballanced, stages are well done and everything fits together nicely. There are a few minutes problems here or there, but they can easily be ignored via a quick FALCOWN PAUNCH! Lasting Appeal, 10/10: Will challenges, the Subspace Emmisary, Events and a multitude of other modes on top of standard multiplayer, this game will never get old. Total, 47/50: Every little aspect comes together to form one of the best games I have ever played. While a very minor problem may come up every now and again, the sheer quality of everything else, from the detailed graphics to the amazing soundtrack, means that they are but needles in the haystack of Mount Olympus ~~~ AHHH, that was hard. Well, finding pictures was actually the hardest part, but all well; tell me what you think and all of that jazz. I need to rest up for tomorrow...the best day ever.
Very, very in-depth review. Plus, I agree with you on just about anything. If you could include another criticism in your review, maybe you could mention how the developers were too lazy to give each character their own target test, resulting in only five simplistic target smashes.
I think I mentioned that, but it was most likely lumped together with the rest of the modes and not really expanded upon. It is a shame that there are only five static levels now, because the individualized stages were far more entertaining and oftentimes far more difficult than these. It doesn't even take any effort to beat all of the challenges with them, just a little skill for the time limits and a lot of free time for beating them will every character... *sigh* All well, I have Explorers of Time to keep me company now, so I can just swear prolifically at my idiotic Mudkip who fails to realize that his move is ineffective and will always be ineffective no matter how many times he uses it against the outlaw Starly while ignoring the few shortcomings of Brawl ;D
