Super Smash Bros: Brawl

The crux of any Smash Bros. game has always been complexity via simplicity. i.e. Easy controls hiding mountains of hidden depth. There's an attack button, a special attack button, a jump button a block button and a grab button... and that's it. "Easy to learn, Difficult to master" is an old saying that applies perfectly here.

If this is your first delve into a Smash Bros. game then be ready love it and hate it in equal measure. You'll love it for the epic scale of the battles, the slow learning curve, the gradual understanding of the mechanics and physics of it all... but you'll hate how damn much you love it! Me and my friends have been playing the Gamecube version if this for nigh on 6 years and showed no signs of stopping save for this sequel. And this IS a sequel...

As a sequel you're already expected to be quite familiar with the controls and inner workings of the series, which can be a pain especially because (i think atleast) the difficulty has been amped up on this edition. Unlocking characters outside of The Subspace Emmisary is much harder than in Melee, due to the increased difficulty coupled with not knowing what moves they possess but this challenge also adds to the fun.

The graphics on this Smash Bros game are pretty great: bright, interesting colours; excellent animations; astounding character design and level design, you're never without something pretty to look at.

Now, I realise the Wii is a family console but this is NOT a family-friendly game. The difficulty to master the controls will put off many family members and thos that do master it will no doubt get in many an argument, however, if you've a child that loves him some Nintendo he will ADORE this.

There is Nintendo goo spewing from it's every orifice, there are hundreds of trophies to collect featuring nearly every Nintendo character from the last 25 years, a cast of 35 characters any Nintendo fan will love taking control of and LOADS of in-jokes contained in the games many, many levels.

Overall, a game no Nintendo fan should be tortured with living without.

Once in a while a game like Super Mario Galaxy or Mario Kart comes along on the wii and when they do they are unbeatable, Super Smash Brothers: Brawl is one of them!!! I bought this game just today and I have been playing it ever since. Since hearing about this game I was so excited about it's release, even though this took ages it is well worth the wait.

The formula of the game hasn't changed at all, the main focus of the game is very much still the multiplayer brawl mode (hence the huge button marked BRAWL that takes up about a third of the main menu). Multiplayer brawl mode still remains one of the best things of Super Smash Brothers: Brawl with 35 characters to choose from you could spend hours just trying them out, there is also a vast range of areas to choose from which nicely varies the game even more. With friends Brawl really comes alive; not just because the action is focused on multiplayer antics but also because there are so many ways to customise your brawl experience. 35 characters!!! Loads of unique weapons and items!!! So many stages, rules and other things to tweak, you won't know where to begin!!! And how does it play? As you might expect it plays like Smash Bros- You batter anything that moves until it flies off the stage, repeating until the time limit expires.

Super Smash Brothers: Brawl is very easy to play and anyone can pick it up and learn the basics in a few minutes but there is surprisingly so much strategy and depth to the combat that it will take you ages to master!! The Graphics of this game are also one of the best on wii- as clear as Mario Galaxy or Mario Kart, very impressive.

Overall you can see why it got 95%, Super Smash Brothers: Brawl is one of the most impressive games I have ever played on wii the only question now is where does Nintendo take the series from here? Even with a cynical eye it is hard to find fault with Brawl- unless you never liked the series, you should adore it!!!

Pros:
- The ultimate Nintendo Brawler.
- Fantastic Multiplayer mode.
- Loads of solid single player modes.
- So much to discover.

Cons:
- None.

Overall: 10/10
Gameplay: 10/10
Graphics: 10/10
Character selection: 10/10

I had the first Super Smash Bros game on the N64 back in 1999 and at the time it was great but Super Smash Bros improves on it tenfold. The graphics look ace and for over 20 years I have been wanting a game where Mario and Sonic kick each others butts. I am a big fan of the Metal Gear Solid games too, so having Snake is a wonderful idea as well and maybe we could have Mega Man from Capcom in the next version? The Adventure mode really works well and has a great little story showing you how all the characters meet eachother. In four player mode things get really manic and crazy which is most brilliant fun. Super Smash Brothers really is one big celebration of all things Nintendo with a small % of Sega and Konami which makes it one of the best games on the Wii at the moment.

Ok, this is my first forray into the smash bros. universe, so forgive me if it seems like i am being a little critical, but i really dont beleive that brawl lives upto the hype that surrounded its release.

For starters the single player mode was obviously only put in as a bit of an afterthought. The subspace embassy - or story mode, if you prefer - is so poor that if the review was based on this alone the game would fail to muster even a solitary star. Classic mode is better, but boomerangs between boredom and frustration, being either far too easy or much too hard. Obviously the game was designed with multiplayer in mind. Fortunately the multiplayer experience is a much meatier affair. when theres you and 3 mates sharing a sofa things can get very compettetive extremley fast.
During one particularly chaotic session i nearly broke my brothers nose with the remote and my friend stormed out after loosing 16 consecutive bouts. However, it soon becomes apparent just how limited the game is. After all this is effectively a 2-D brawler with some snazzy effects. It certainly is fun to start with, but it soon becomes tiresome when you have just pulled off the same move 20 times in a row becuase theres no other moves to pull.

Then theres nintendo;s single biggest clanger with brawl - The online multiplayer mode. Everything works fine, you can connect easily enough and there always seems to be a steady stream of opponents to fight, but, nintendo has forgotten why people would want to play against other people - the banter, the jibes and the put downs. By failing to give you anyway of communicating with the person you are fighting against, nintendo have ensured that the online experience feels no different to battling against CPU Characters. thus rendering the experience slightly pointless.

To be fair this is still amongst the favourites for a post pub bout or two. But in these days of fully 3-D fighters like soul caliber, this kind of thing fails to cut the mustard as far as i am concerned. If only the online experience had been better...

Get this game on wii now it is the best!!! My friend brought it round and it was amazing, the graphics, the characters, the fighting, well everthing really, just pure brillian really. This is a really must have game for anyone, even if you don't like games. It's got loads of stuff to do, loads of characters, loads of fighting rings and lots of objects come in whilst you are fighting or as they call it having a brawl. If you are not so sure about this game after reading my review have a good look into it on the nintendo website or there is even a website on it's own about this game. Please get it, it is brilliant!!!!!