I've been playing video games for almost as long as I can remember. As
of this review, I've beaten 572 and played many more. Perhaps one of my
favorite games so far is Super Smash Bros. Brawl. OK, it's only in the
top 3, but that's still quite a statement. But why do I love this game
so much? Brawl attempts something different when it comes to fighters.
Rather than depleting your sole opponent's life bar with arcane button
and joystick sequences which fire fireballs from your hands , you bash
your opponent senseless over large and intricate stages that can twist,
turn and threaten you with instant death, until their percentage is
high enough for you to knock them off the stage and into oblivion.
The characters in this game are incredibly well balanced, well varied
and quite easy to use. Gone are the arcane button/joystick sequences I
just referenced, as all characters perform their moves in the same
manner. For example, the B-up moves of most characters act as a third
jump to keep you from falling to your death. To compensate for the
balanced character roster, the items are far more chaotic than in the
previous iteration, Melee. Almost all can quickly turn the tide of
battle, like the force of a falling Warp Star or the devastating power
of each character's Final Smash. Speaking of that, Final Smashes are
perhaps the biggest change to the fighting system, as the focus of all
players in a match will quickly change to the frantic beating of the
orb until it allows you to unleash fiery death on your foes.
You've probably caught onto the fact that the game is best played
with multiple people at this point. There's an ungodly amount of modes
to play, from team battles and custom matches to co-op affairs and
player made stages. But worry not, lonesome readers among you, as Brawl
allows you to play online. Yes, using the Wii Wi-Fi, you can play
against people all across the globe (except Europe and Australia, where
it has yet to arrive). Lag, however, can be a problem. Some matches can
be silky smooth, others being so rough as to make the play think it's
been tossed down a gravel road only to later fall down a cliff.
Overall, though, online is still pretty good and a good alternative for
those who can't organize a four player killfest.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl also offers quite the single player
experience, too. You have events, Classic mode, Subspace, All Stars,
and a plethora of other modes that can also be played with a buddy. The
only one that especially stands out amongst the crowd is the Subspace
Emissary, the game's story/campaign mode. The basic story is that an
Ancient Minister is blowing up areas into nothingness, and characters
from all over the Nintendo universe (and even beyond) have some role to
play in it. What I absolutely love about this campaign is that the tale
is told without a single word uttered throughout the entire duration.
That takes an incredible amount of talent, whether it's the emotion
portrayed when all the ROBs are ordered to suicide bomb the heroes or
the humor of Princess Peach obliviously going out for a Sunday stroll
while being fired upon by enemy ships (and then inviting others for
tea). Subspace also wins me over with classic platforming levels
influenced by some of the best of the genre, like Donkey Kong Country
and Kirby's Dreamland (not surprising, considering the same person
designed the two games).
Classic and All Star seem to have suffered to a degree, though.
The randomized order of each has been replaced with a pseudo-random one
that can be predicted and planned out, which can remove a bit of the
difficulty of a system that never turns out anything near the same
result twice. Target practice is no longer custom per character, but
rather by difficulty level and certain characters (essentially the
villains) aren't well suited to these trials.
You may think that's quite a lot to say about how a game is
played, but that's just a testament to how large the game is. Perhaps
the only thing within it to rival the high amount of ways to play games
is the soundtrack. Brawl contains over 300 songs from Nintendo to Metal
Gear to Sonic the Hedgehog, and you're bound to find something you'll
fall in love with, like the "ripped right from your Sega Genesis" Sonic
stage themes to the instrumental version of With Mila's Divine
Protection (from the Japan only Fire Emblem Gaiden). Truth be told, the
game contains a few duds (essentially anything with lyrics), but the
game has the courtesy of allowing you to prevent those failures from
ever appearing if you don't want them to. Ever.
Finally come the graphics, which definitely show signs of
improvement over Melee (which itself looked fairly good). The
characters show more detail than the somewhat flat models of its
predecessor, and the game is generally appealing to look at. Quite a
lot can be happening on screen at once, but it doesn't slow down for
anything (except during online matches, but that's a completely
separate issue I addressed earlier).
As you've probably guessed by now, I love Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
It is easy to pick up and get into but hard to master, the music is a
godsend to gamers who loved their older systems and the myriad of modes
and unlockables still has me playing it long after its release. This is
a game every Wii owner should have in their library, if they don't
already.
