Super Smash Bros. Brawl Review
With Super Smash Bros. Brawl which was released earlier in the US, showing a mightily impressive sales return of 120 units per minute in the first week. We hoped our American cousins were correct to make this Nintendo’s fastest ever selling video game in US history. From the evidence of our play through of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, we agree with what America has shown us in way of sales…it’s a gem of a game that needs to added to your Wii’s collection.
So is Super Smash Bros. Brawl all polished & shiny or more a rough type of gem?
Let’s shine a light on the subject for you.
Even in this day & age it can still be a rarity to load up a new game & immediately feel a sense of joy while playing those early minutes without knowing what exactly you should be doing.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl falls right into that category of gaming, making a big messy splash about it in the process. With it’s chaotic fighting action sprawn over the intial 29 arenas(increasing to 41) in the game, you are able to take control of 35 characters from Nintendo’s back catologue of games. Included are a few that are third-party guests to the Nintendo troop, most notably Solid Snake & Sonic the Hedgehog.
The gameplay modes come in four flavours; Solo, Group, Adventure & via the Nintendo Wi-Fi connection. Each have their own trademarks in gameplay with Solo being the only mode that the player ever has to play totally alone.
Adventure mode, titled The Subspace Emissary, contains unique character storylines with well dramatised cut-scenes that contain no dialogue, relying on image & sound to work the plot for each character. This works surprisingly well & actually made me take note of what was happening rather than just looking to pause & skip back to the action.
The Adventure mode action itself takes place in numerous side scrolling platform styled levels that lead to Boss fights, which are OK & mildly amusing. There are opportunities for cooperative multiplayer action within Adventure mode, as more characters can be unlocked during play & added to your team.
while waiting for random opponents – take out your frustrations on a punch bag
Online play via the Nintendo Wi-Fi connection could have been given a little more care, as it requires the Friend Code system to be able to play against other players that you know. As I don’t know anyone with a Wii, I couldn’t choose this option of gameplay & had to plump for Random Player which doesn’t allow player tag names or the character’s 4 taunt system. From what I have seen of it online, Super Smash Bros. Brawl works well & I didn’t experience any really lag in gameplay, just a little maybe, as each level or new game begins.
Chaotic yes, but keep your % damage low or expect a hefty kick!
The levels in Solo play can go by just as quickly as they come. As the % of damage that your foe takes can increase wildly at the early stages, allowing for a quick kick away from the playing platform. This can result in a winning GAME for your character but works best when your opponent has a % damage of at least 100%. All characters have a maximum % damage of 999% excluding the Master Hand(more on him in a minute).
The higher the % the better against your opponent, so that you can knock them from the playing area. The only variation to this mechanic is the final character that you encounter, the Master Hand, who has HP to reduce rather than the normal % damage. Again this is represented visually.
After completing the run with your chosen character in Solo mode, the title screen rolls with an on-screen target allowing you to shoot each name as it rolls up the screen. Each name hit will deposit Coins for which you can use later in the Coin Launcher.
This brings me nicely onto the Vault.
Trophies & stickers can be collected throughout the game. Stickers being used as handy power-ups for your character in the Subspace Emissary Adventure. Trophies constitute as statues of characters within Nintendo’s gaming history, both stickers & trophies can be shown off to other players over the Wi-Fi connection as snapshots.
The Coin Collector – more Trophies & Stickers to earn
The Coin Launcher is a mini game that allows the player to use the well earned coins collected in games earlier, to obtain more Trophies & Stickers.
The Vault also contains a Stage Builder that will allow the player free reign over creating custom stages to brawl in. These created levels can be shared in numerous ways too, via direct transfer to a Wii Friend or indirectly via loading them onto a SD card.
In conclusion, Super Smash Bros. Brawl is one masterly gaming package. The combat overall(which is a main reason these type of games become popular) feels just right to me & is a dizzy, chaotic affair that takes a little time to work out. Playing one character to another will allow you, in time, to work out what moves work best with each. Super Smash Bros. Brawl may not appeal to the hardened gamer, in it’s approach to combat but it suits the game & it’s character base. To that end Nintendo have kept Super Smash Bros. Brawl pure to it’s roots.
There are not to many hiccups in gameplay along the way either. Everything seems to collide correctly & all the characters seem well balanced. It’s just a shame that online play via Wi-Fi doesn’t match up against the recent Mario Kart’s WFC online mode but that is only a small smudge against Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which I have to say is looking to be one of the Wii’s finest releases so far.
Tags: Nintendo
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September 22, 2008 at 8:10 pm
[...] but to get invited along to the Blogger Day at EA is it own reward. I confess I do receive review copies of new games on occasion, which is a nice perk in itself but I think videogame bloggers should be [...]