"Simply Smashing"

After a ridiculously annoying wait, coupled with several heart-breaking delays, Super Smash Bros. Brawl is finally here. Is it even really necessary to introduce this game? I think not, because millions of people, myself included, have been excited about this title's release ever since the Wii was announced. Brawl had a lot to live up to, and I'm happy to say that for the most part, it completely meets any expectations you may have had of it.

Brawl is a very simple game, actually. It's a fighter, and a very basic one at that -- or so it first seems. You can move, jump, shield, and use two different attack buttons. All told, you play this game with four buttons and a control stick. But don't let that deceive you, because Brawl is a surprisingly intricate game for those who really get to know it, and the more you play the more you'll realize that the combat options in Brawl are nearly limitless. Sure, you've got your two basic attacks, taken care of with the A and B buttons. But then you can execute Smash attacks, by smashing the control stick left, right, up or down and hitting the A button at the same time. You can execute combos with the A and B buttons, or perform specific attacks while in the air (aptly named aerials). There are a wealth of fighting options and what makes Brawl so awesome is the fact that a complete newbie to the game can have as much fun with it as somebody who played Melee for hundreds upon hundreds of hours *cough*.

Another big aspect of combat, aside from your skill at the game, is the items that are randomly dropped onto the stage. There are at least fifty items, from all sorts of different titles, and all have specific purpose in battle. Some, like the Maxim Tomato, will heal some of your damage, while others, like the Hammer, will allow you to damage your foes. There are tons of items and can be used in various ways. Sure, you could just toss a bomb at a foe and deal some quick damage, but why not wait to deal some damage yourself, grab him with a tap of the Z button, toss him up and then throw the bomb, hitting him and almost certainly sending him off the course? The items allow for plenty of strategy and add tons of depth to the game. The biggest new item is probably the Smash Ball; when you deal enough damage to it, you start glowing and can activate your character's final smash with a press of the B button. These are quite powerful attacks that usually result in a KO, so when a Smash Ball appears on the screen the game usually changes from an all-out brawl to a race for the item. It's a pretty cool way to affect the pacing of the title and it's an inclusion that I personally like.

The fighting is, naturally, the core of the game, but what honestly makes Brawl such an awesome game is the wealth of options that the title offers you. Everything, and I mean everything, can be customized. For example, there are four different control options, each of which work perfectly fine and allow you to take advantage of whatever controllers you own, and also allow players to really customize how they play. While I find the GameCube controller to be preferable, simply because I'm used to it after playing Melee with it for several years now, the Wii controls (Wii remote, Wii remote with Nunchuk, and Classic Controller) all work fine. Thankfully, there is no attempt at motion control whatsoever; to be honest, Brawl is far too frantic a game to try and tack on some gimmicky controls, and I'm thankful that the dev team did not try to do so.

In terms of customization, the biggest aspect to really making Brawl your own is the character with whom you fight. Several fighting titles that I've played suffer from the fact that aside from appearance, every fighter essentially has the same moveset, with a few mild variations. Nothing could be further from the case with Brawl, as each and every character (actually, there are some exceptions) is quite distinct and possess their own attributes and moves. The exception here is that sadly, the dev team has not quite done away with clones: that is, characters who are nearly identical. Some examples? Fox, Falco, and Wolf are basically the same, as are Link and Toon Link and Ganondorf and Captain Falcon. There are some mild differences, I suppose, but it beats me why such a lazy implementation would exist in a game that clearly pumped full of raw awesomeness. It's obvious that the developers made Brawl the best they could, and so adding clones seems to be a bit of a step backward.

The other significant improvement upon Melee is the stages: both in terms of quality and quantity. Their were several duds in Melee (although that's really just my opinion, I guess -- everybody has their own favorites), but just about every course in Brawl is a blast to play on. They vary not only in size but also in complexity. That is, there are some courses that are relatively simple (for example, Battleground or Eldin Bridge), whereas others have tons of structures, destructibility, and even interaction with the course (for example, on Halberd, bombs will occasionally be shot at you). Of course, the stages are also helped out immensely by the fact that they are proficient graphically, not only in terms of design but also in the fact that they simply look awesome.

I've been discussing the wide range of options that Brawl has to offer, so I think it best that I continue with that train of thought: the next logical step is, naturally, game modes, and this is another place where Brawl shines brightly. Probably the mode you'll be spending the most time with is Brawl, where one to four players can duke it out over local multiplayer. Select your character and stage, set rules (stock/time, which items to play with, etc.) and start fighting. But there are also tournament set-ups for multiple players, and some surprisingly strong single-player offerings. You can play Classic mode, which allows you to choose a character and progress through a series of battles. But you can also work your way through Subspace Emissary, a story mode, and it's a significant step up from Melee's Adventure Mode. It chronicles every character in the game and their random incidents, then relates them all to an alien invasion and, in the end, has them teaming up to combat a common foe. It's surprisingly lengthy, around 8 hours, and is a pretty awesome addition, though it's certainly not a good exclusive reason to purchase the game (that, of course, would be multiplayer). Also, Subspace Emissary is where the graphics really get a chance to shine, because there are plenty of awesome cutscenes that take full advantage of the Wii's graphical capabilities.

And in terms of both graphics and music, Brawl is one of the most impressive games on the Wii. The visuals easily rival those of Super Mario Galaxy (in my opinion, the best-looking game on the Wii), and they never suffer even when you've got a lot of frantic action going on at once. The soundtrack is probably even more impressive, if possible, as just about every single bit of music in any good Nintendo game makes an appearance in Brawl. The collection of music is absolutely awe-inspiring, and any fan of Nintendo music is going to instantly fall in love with Brawl. The title's presentation is awesome and really speaks to the amount of care and attention to detail that the developers have given to this game.

Once you start playing Brawl, you're not going to stop for a long time, simply because there is so much to do here. There is a myriad of unlockables, including additional characters and stages, trophies, stickers, and soundtracks (that's right: you can collect all the music that's played in the game and then listen to it at your own leisure!). These are attained by playing a certain number of versus matches, usually, but can also be gained by fulfilling specific requirements. For example, to unlock Sonic, you'll have to beat classic mode with ten different characters -- these sorts of requirements are common and because you're working toward a specific goal, you won't even notice the hours fly by. The trophies and stickers are really awesome because they represent memorabilia from just about every good video game ever published by Nintendo. These can be gained by completing random achievements in some of the minigames, so to speak (multi-man brawl, home run contest, and target practice) or from the shooter minigame. This minigame puts you in control of a rotating gun which shoots coins that you receive for everything in the game (for example, every time you play a VS match, you'll receive coins). Trophies will slide across the screen, and if you shoot them a few times they're yours to keep and will be stored in your trophy collection. But on the board there are also enemies and missiles, and shooting these will sometimes give you coin bonuses or award you with stickers, which are kept in your sticker book. Any Nintendo fanatic such as myself could spend hours just flipping through the book of Nintendo-related stickers or perusing the trophy collection.

Finally, Brawl features the much-welcomed addition of online play, though it still uses those blasted Friend Codes that Nintendo insists upon implementing. Swap Fcs with somebody and you can instantly start a game -- up to four people can play online. Friend matches are quite fun, and I've already spend countless hours playing against some of my friends online. On the other hand, the random matches, where you're paired up with somebody else looking for a game, don't work very well at all. I'm fairly certain that this is an issue because of the ridiculous number of people trying to access the Brawl servers, but the matches are laggy and often get randomly cut off -- when you can even get a game going, that is. Voice chat would have been great, but online is fun nonetheless and a great addition to a great game. Once you get bored of all the single player offerings of Brawl (it'll take a long time, admittedly), online is sure to keep you playing.

I don't think I can say much about Brawl that's not already been said, so I'll be brief: Brawl is an incredible game. It certainly has lived up to my expectations, which in itself is a feat because I was expecting Brawl to be incredible. It certainly delivered and I can say with confidence that it's certainly one of the best titles on the Wii, and shares company with such titles as Metroid Prime 3 and Super Mario Galaxy. There's absolutely no reason not to own this game, and if you own a Wii you need to go out and buy it. There's tons of play value and you'll surely be playing Brawl for a very long time to come. And that's a good thing, because it is one hell of a game.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 03/17/08

Game Release: Super Smash Bros. Brawl (US, 03/09/08)