Gamernode: Reviews - Super Smash Bros. Brawl

..article continued from page 1

Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Wii
Game Arts
Nintendo
March 09th, 2008

But the magic of Brawl isn't just in the raw combat and characters. It's all about bringing the entire Nintendo experience onto one disc. Each franchise represented in Brawl sports not only a character or two, but also nostalgic stages and music into every fight. The first time I battled on the Isle of Delfino, both my controller and jaw hit the floor as I watched the entirety of Super Mario Sunshine whiz by in the background. And brawling in the town of Smashville only conjured up memories of my sleepless nights trading rare furniture over the Internet in Animal Crossing, all while K.K. Slider sang the blues to me. Even stages without much depth, like the Pictochat and Electroplankton stage, are a true testament to how much Sakurai wanted to please even the pickiest Nintendo fanboy.

Of course, even if the 40+ stages start to run dry (which could theoretically happen in about 15 years), you have no room to complain since Nintendo included a full stage builder. While you don't have the visuals and random Nintendo themes at your disposal, you do have a fairly expansive array of platforms, blocks, and hazards to build any stage you can imagine. To take things a step further, Nintendo permits you to submit your crazed creations to their main server, where they can be automatically downloaded everyday onto Wiis worldwide through WiiConnect24. A new stage everyday? Just freaking awesome.

One of the more highlighted features of Brawl is the ability, for the first time ever, to play online with anyone on the globe. Now, I'm not oblivious to online play. I know that lag is literally impossible to avoid, and affects fighting games more than any other genre, so this was one of the first modes I decided to write off. But, for the sake of the review, I decided to give it a shot anyway. To my amazement, the lag wasn't nearly as awful as I had anticipated. In fact, it can be directly compared to playing Smash Bros. on a plasma television. That means that casual players will believe lag doesn't even exist, and competitive gamers will be able to adjust to the ever-so-slight delay. However, the only real way to play online is with friends, which still requires the tedious entering of Friend Codes. With friends, you're able to customize your match as much as you would if they were sitting right beside you, which is the way Smash should be played in the first place.

Personally, I'm not all that into throwing items into my Smash, but I know that I'm in the minority on this one. Although, Sakurai really went all-out with the items this time around. In addition to new weapons, like the sticky bomb and cracker launcher, Brawl introduces a brand new item called the Assist Trophy. I like to think of it as the Nintendo outcast item, though. Inside each AT is a random character from Nintendo's history that wasn't quite popular enough to make the final roster, but was important enough not to ignore. Much like the Pokéballs, ATs will have characters like Latiku or Waluigi pop up and cause mischief all over the field. I'm still pretty bummed that Knuckles isn't hidden in one of these trophies (or a playable character for that matter), but that could just be me.

Then the other significant change to the item barrage is the brand new Smash Ball. Unlike other fighting games where your Special meter charges up gradually, breaking open a Smash Ball will instantly surround your character with a glowing aura, which means you're ready to perform your Final Smash. The idea of a Final Smash can be compared to just about any other fighting game's special move system, where your character unleashes all hell onto the fighting ground through a specially crafted attack. Link slashes up his opponents using the power of the Triforce while Kirby sucks them into a giant pot and makes a tasty stew out of their sizzling flesh. When a Smash Ball appears, the standard fight ceases and it becomes a frenzy of who can crack that baby open first. Thankfully, it takes a few hits, so the Smash Ball won't randomly appear in front of someone who can immediately use it to their advantage.

Just like Melee, Brawl's lasting appeal is in everything multiplayer, and naturally that's what most gamers are looking forward to. But in an odd stroke of generosity, Sakurai made it a point to develop an expansive and satisfying single player campaign called the Subspace Emissary. Throw away everything you thought you knew about single player Smash, because SSE is absolutely gigantic. Your story begins as Mario and Kirby decide to compete in a friendly fight in a large tournament environment. After the quick battle, Metaknight's Battleship Halberd shows up to rain purple globs that mysteriously morph into baddies, where you begin the first of many boss battles. As peril ensues, SSE constantly flips back and forth through various storylines involving Nintendo's large lineup of characters. Instead of choosing a single character at the beginning of the game, you continuously swap between each Nintendo icon and battle through their appropriate world. And as the storyline progresses, the individual worlds of each series begin to mesh together in a somewhat poetic and appropriate fashion, where you'll find Samus battling along side Pikachu, as well as other mismatched teams, as if it were a well-written Nintendo fan fiction. SSE can be enjoyed either by yourself or cooperatively with a friend (locally) and will take you anywhere from 8 to 12 hours to complete, which is quite beefy for a fighting game.

« Previous 1 2 3 Next »

(28)

Posted by ChristIllusion on 03/02/2008 at 09:42PM

its out already????

Posted by Vars on 03/02/2008 at 11:20PM

March 9th for North America but GN has the scoop. :D

Posted by Brendon on 03/02/2008 at 11:53PM

Billy, this isn't the 1920s.

Posted by Eddie R Inzauto on 03/03/2008 at 06:30AM

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

Funny thing about Smash Bros is that, for all the fanfare, I've always thought it to be a rather, well, so-so game series. The aggregate score (GameRankings, metacritic) for the first Super Smash Bros (79-80%) is closest to how i feel about both games so far.

Maybe this one will be different...I dunno

Posted by hoboman725 on 03/03/2008 at 03:05PM

thank goodness for my pre-order and midnight releases.

Posted by Brendon on 03/03/2008 at 03:20PM

Am I the only person on this planet who doesn't really care about the game coming out? I'll try it and buy it (since my girlfriend seems to enjoy it), but I could just as easily never buy or play it and be happy.

Posted by Corvall on 03/03/2008 at 03:34PM

You're not the only one, Brendon. But the primary reason I don't care is that I don't have a Wii.

Posted by Garcian Smith on 03/03/2008 at 04:08PM

I've loved the series since the 64 edition, and this one will be no different. Now, if only Nintendo could confirm the UK release date...

Posted by Eddie R Inzauto on 03/03/2008 at 04:42PM

Exactly, Brendon...
If the series never existed, it wouldn't have made a difference to me.

Posted by Steve on 03/03/2008 at 08:22PM

Did you have an orgasm while playing this game? Because from this review it would appear that you did.

Posted by jambo on 03/03/2008 at 09:49PM

I've never actually played a Smash game, but this game does look like a lot of fun and I have kinda been looking forward to it.

Posted by Coyotegrey on 03/04/2008 at 03:30AM

I can't wait because it's a fighting game that people will actually play with me!

Posted by CUatTHEFINISH on 03/04/2008 at 03:59AM

Well so far metacritic is giving it an average score of 98/100. I loved the N64 version of this game, but hated the GC version, I'm really hoping Brawl brings me back to those old times.

Posted by Coop on 03/04/2008 at 07:16AM

I hope to god you are right, I can't freaking wait.

Posted by Tankcommander on 03/04/2008 at 09:44AM

Just gotta make it to this Sunday, then I'll be brawling like a madman.

Posted by Bigspfan on 03/04/2008 at 04:05PM

Quasar, you're wrong boy. Dead wrong. This is Nintendo's HALO 3, a stand-off to see what the future holds for Nintendo. If this game doesn't sell, Nintendo is doomed. I look upon the endless RACKS of DS and Wii games and think, this is the only game I think will completely be sold out.

Posted by siggs on 03/05/2008 at 01:04PM

Ditto Brendon. My bro will get it, and i'll play it, I appretiate that its a great game, but never really felt an urge to play melee much after its release, so i think this might be the same.

But still, looks great, i'll give it a spin

Posted by jambo on 03/06/2008 at 04:40PM

Are you joking Bigspfan? Nintendo is making so much money selling DSs and Wiis a the moment. Mario and Sonic at the Olympics alone has already sold 5 million copies.

Posted by Not_My_Style on 03/06/2008 at 04:57PM

Yeah, Nintendo is no where near "doomed" if this game doesn't sell. In fact, they're far from it.

Posted by Brendon on 03/06/2008 at 09:11PM

What's sad is I wouldn't be shocked if this didn't outsell Mario & Sonic at the Olympics. That has THREE big names in the title. This has zero.

Posted by Descender021 on 03/08/2008 at 03:33AM

Okay, Brendon, there is much loling to be had. I actually registered an account here, just to educate you.

"What's sad is I wouldn't be shocked if this didn't outsell Mario & Sonic at the Olympics. That has THREE big names in the title. This has zero."

Aye, it's true. "Mario", "Sonic", and "Olympics" are all big names. But to anyone who has owned a Nintendo 64, "Super Smash Bros." is as big a name as all three combined! Aside from that Smash is one of the biggest "fan service" games EVER. It has more characters from more games duking it out than any other game ever. This game could easily EASILY have over 20 BIG names represented in the game, and all you have to do to represent them is say "Smash".

This game will outsell Mario and Sonic. Period.

Posted by eight on 03/08/2008 at 11:49AM

o0o0o0o0o0 SNAP. It's on like Donkey Kong now.

Brendon and Descender021 dance off. It's the only way to resolve this conflict.

Posted by Brendon on 03/08/2008 at 01:22PM

My point Descender isn't that Smash doesn't have names in it or isn't popular. But the casual gamer (which you can't argue is the biggest crowd on the Wii) is going to see "Super Smash Bros. Brawl" and go "Alrighty." If they look at the game, sure, they'll probably like it. But at the same time, they can see the name "Mario & Sonic at the Olympics" and instantly know that it's an Olympics game with both Mario and Sonic. There's a reason Nintendo and Sega didn't call it something like "Olympic Showdown!"

I didn't say that it WOULD outsell Smash. I just said that if it ended up selling more copies than it, I wouldn't be surprised. When games like Brain Age, Wii Play and Wii Fit are your biggest system sellers, there's a lot more people playing than the people who owned an N64 and GameCube. The first Smash Bros. game sold about 4 million total, and Melee is around 6-7 million lifetime sales. Will Brawl beat those? Probably. But it's not going to sell as much as all those casual games people gobble up.

Posted by Steve on 03/09/2008 at 06:19PM

Brendon: if a casual gamer walks into a walmart, looks at Mario & Sonic, with just Mario and Sonic on the cover, then glances at Super Smash Bros with Mario, Sonic, Samus, Link, Kirby, Star Fox, and Pikachu on the cover..you honestly think they will pick up Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games over that?

And its not like Super Smash Bros is some no name game. It's the Halo 3 of Nintendo, and I'm sure alot of "casual" gamers have at least heard of the series.

Posted by Obsidian on 03/10/2008 at 01:41AM

From my point of view, a casual gamer when seeing Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario and Sonic in The Olympic Games, he/she says "Kiddie Games" or other (dumb) comment(s) and go buy something ridiculous like a skateboard game or something like that.
Brendon, nobody cares about what game outsells the other, the important thing is that we like the games.
I am not in your side or anyone else's, since I consider arguing about 'what game or console is better' is nothing but a waste of time. Just enjoy the games.

Posted by Brendon on 03/10/2008 at 02:34AM

People seem to think that I'm saying that Mario and Sonic will beat Smash Bros. I didn't say it would; I said if it somehow DID, I wouldn't be too surprised given the Wii's demographic.

Posted by Bigspfan on 03/11/2008 at 05:10PM

actually jambo, I was joking and got an epic flame war to start after my little joke. pretty cool eh?

Posted by jambo on 03/12/2008 at 12:59AM

Nice work =P

GamePlay: A solid combination of Smash 64 and Melee. The balanced fighting and easy-to-learn yet heavily in-depth controls will keep you striving for perfection.
Graphics: What the Wii lacks in polygon count it makes up for in sheer artistic value. Brawl looks absolutely stunning and completely appropriate at all times.
Sound: Hands-down the best soundtrack a video game has ever had. All of the sound effects are appropriate and vary enough that you won't grow tired of them. Also, Sonic Boom!
Replay Value: Infinite. Period. You will never stop playing Brawl, unless Sakurai decides to release a fourth installment on the Nintendo Us.
10	Final Word: I have never seen more effort put into a video game than what has been shown in Brawl. With unbelievable multiplayer fighting, an enormous single player mode, and collectibles that will last for years, there's no reason why you shouldn't buy it.