Super Smash Bros. Brawl

This time, I’m reviewing one of the most anticipated Wii games of 2008 – Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Its predecessor, Super Smash Bros. Melee, made the title of “Best GameCube Game”, so will its successor do the same? Originally slated for release in November of 2007, Super Smash Bros. Brawl was pushed back to February 2008, and then pushed back again to March 9, 2008, when it was finally released to the public. Let’s see if it’s truly worth its $49.99 price tag.

Single Player

Super Smash Bros. Brawl is set up differently from its previSous two titles. First, we’ll focus on the Single Player mode, which is divided up into two main parts – “Classic Mode” and “Adventure Mode: The Subspace Emissary.”

In Classic Mode, the player follows a simple single player campaign as in Brawl’s previous titles. It consists of different “rounds” where the player fights CPU-controlled opponents. Each round is completed by knocking your opponent(s) off the stage and ultimately off of the entire screen. As in its previous titles, this mode has about 11 to 15 rounds in total, and once the player has gone through them all, he/she has completed the mode.

Adventure Mode: The Subspace Emissary is the new single player mode of Super Smash Bros. Brawl that’s really racking up major attention. For the first time, Brawl has a full story mode, complete with astounding cinematics and storyline. An evil being known as the Subspace Emissary attempts to turn all of the characters into trophies to add to his collection, and while doing so, ends up destroying the entire world in the process.

You’ll fight as numerous characters from Brawl against the Subspace Emissary’s minions in a side-scrolling adventure similar to that of Super Paper Mario, where after each level is completed, you’ll be returned to the World Map screen, where you can select which level to visit next.

Trophies and stickers are just some of the key items you’ll collect during levels in order to boost your characters’ attack, defense, launch resistance, etc. in preparation for the next level. This mode also has a co-op feature, where you and a friend can take part in it together.

Aside from the two main single player modes, there’s also a Training Mode to test your skills, a Target Smash mode to see how quickly you can smash all of the targets on the screen, and a Home-Run Mode where you try to hit a white bag as far as you can with a baseball bat.

Multi-Player

By far the best part about Super Smash Bros. Brawl is its multi-player mode, where up to 32 people can participate in a brawl for the ages. Players can configure a multitude of settings, ranging from victory conditions to stage selection to item selection and frequency to customize each brawl to their own specifications. The main Free-For-All brawl can consist of up to 4 players, either human or CPU-controlled, the Round-Robin brawl consists of 5 to 8 players and the Tournament mode can hold up to 32, making this a truly unique game. Do you have 32 people in your living room to play Brawl with?

Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection is also implemented into the game, allowing players to connect online via a high-speed internet connection with their friends and even random people all over the world, to brawl with or against each other.

Other Features

There are numerous other features in Super Smash Bros. Brawl – I’ll just touch upon the important ones.

A stage-builder allows players to create and customize their own stages, then upload them to friends or Nintendo themselves, who will pick one stage per day and make it an official in-game stage, available for download for free.
The “My Music” section allows you to customize each stage’s music to your liking.
“Masterpieces” is a section where you can try out demos of some of the original 1980 games of characters in Brawl, such as the original Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong and Legend of Zelda.

And finally, you can customize your own controls in the “Controller Options” setting.

Whether you’re using the Wii Remote + Nunchuk, Wii Remote alone, Classic Wii Controller or Nintendo Gamecube Controller, you can configure the buttons for each one separately and save them for later use. A very handy feature indeed, so you’re not stuck using the default settings as in many other games.

Final Conclusion – The Good and the Bad

Super Smash Bros. Brawl is definitely a game you want to at least try once in your lifetime before the next version comes out. The classic mode is good for gamers used to the single-player campaign mode in previous Smash Bros. titles. The adventure mode is a nice change of pace that adds some RPG elements into the game. It’s extraordinarily deep and offers cinematics of a quality that you’ve never seen before. As for multiplayer, whether it’s online via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, or offline with your friends or CPU opponents, there are tons of stages to select and lots of options to customize. With over 20 characters in the game, and plenty of hidden characters, items and options to unlock, you’ll find yourself addicted in no time flat. Each brawl is unique, therefore giving Super Smash Bros. Brawl infinite replayability. And with the introduction of new items such as the famous Smash Ball, allowing the character who destroys it to perform a special “Final Smash” attack, there’s no limit to what can happen in a brawl.

Now with all of that said, you’d think that Brawl would get a perfect 10/10 score, but unfortunately, there are 3 factors that, whether known beforehand by the designers or not, prevent players from being 100% satisfied with the game.

The first one is sort of obvious. With all of the content that’s been loaded into one Wii game disc, you can expect to see loading screens very often. Even something as simple as going back to a previous menu in the game takes a while, never mind loading up the cinematics in the adventure mode. It can get quite frustrating when you want to play, but end up waiting quite a time for the “Loading…” words to disappear.

The second problem is with regards to Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. Even with a high-speed internet connection, getting the game to synchronize online with 3 other people, who may happen to live on the other side of the world, is pretty tough. And as such, you can expect some lag, even at the highest possible broadband and DSL speeds. This feature was attempted to have been fixed by the designers, and it was fixed somewhat, but the problem still exists to a degree.

And finally, the third issue is not really an issue at all, but something that should’ve been=included. The adventure mode has great cinematics, but no voice-overs. If I hadn’t read about the story ahead of time, I would honestly not know what was happening in the game, story-wise. The cinematics need explaining.
But all in all, the good parts of Brawl far outweigh the bad parts. Whether you’re a seasoned Smash Bros. veteran or a newcomer to the series, you’ll enjoy all of what Brawl has to offer. Check out what I’ve rated Brawl out of 10 in each of the five categories shown below.

Graphics: 10/10 - If you thought the graphics in Pokémon Battle Revolution were
out of this world, you simply have to see the visuals in Brawl.

Sound/Music: 10/10 - With multiple songs that can be selected for each stage in the
game, it’ll keep each brawl unique and fun. The sound effects,
as in previous Smash Bros. titles, remain realistic and intense.

Gameplay: 8/10 - With a classic mode, adventure mode and both online and
offline multiplayer modes, there’s lots of selection for anyone
and everyone. If the online battles didn’t lag and the loading
screens didn’t take as long as they did, this category would
score a perfect 10/10.

Controls: 10/10 - With four different controllers available for use and an option to
customize each controller’s buttons to your liking, any player
can get started playing as easy as 1-2-3.

Lasting Appeal: 10/10 - With countless options and customizability, Super Smash Bros.
Brawl makes each fight a unique one for infinite replayability.

Final Score: 9.6/10 - If you can withstand the lag and long loading times, Super

Smash Bros. Brawl is definitely a game worth buying. And
don’t expect the price to drop anytime soon, either. The
previous title, Super Smash Bros. Melee, held its $49.99 price
tag for 7 years, since