Super Smash Bros. Brawl:

Review by Kamek101

Super Smash Bros Brawl; perhaps the most hyped game to be released on a Nintendo console. Naturally, one expects a game containing all of Nintendo’s finest creations (plus a couple of extras) to be of the highest quality. Or is it? Let’s look at it in detail.

Visuals: 9/10
Just by watching the opening movie, you can tell that this game is going to be beautiful. Each character model has been skilfully moulded and carved in order to produce that semi-realistic, yet true to the character style that Melee used. For example, Mario still looks very much like you’d expect; big nose, round eyes, cartoon moustache etc. But his dungarees have been touched up in order to give them a realistic denim texture. Plus, all the little details have been polished to give a flawless finish. Even background characters, like Tails and Knuckles in the Green Hill Zone have had loads of care and attention paid to them. Speaking of which, the settings of the brawl stages are also stunning, capturing the very essence of the series’ from which they came. However, some of the backgrounds in the Subspace Emissary are rather disappointing; in a game composed of Nintendo favourites duking it out, there is a surprising lack of any familiar Nintendo-y features, like Mushroom or coloured hills. Instead, we get very realistic surroundings, which, although still very pretty and still suitable to the theme, perhaps don’t satisfy as much as a real DK style jungle (although a Jungle level is present, it just isn’t the same style) or even seeing Whispy Woods in the background. The Pokemon Models could also use a little more spit shine but they’re OK and functional.


Soundtrack and Voice Acting: 10/10
No faults here. SSBB contains the largest collection of Nintendo themed classics ever in one game. Most of your favourites will be in here; either in their original form or in awesome new remixes. The ground theme from the Super Mario Bros has been made into an amazing piano melody; Live and learn from Sonic Adventure 2, lyrics and all can be Brawled too and so many more. If you can’t find at least one of your favourites in the track list, you don’t have any taste in music at all (or you haven’t found the CD to unlock one yet). The new tracks specifically made for Brawl are also outstanding, even if many of them are just variations of the main theme. The main theme is epic though; Latin vocals and an orchestral score mean that it is as good as anything else anyone has ever heard. Even parents will praise its excellence. On to voice acting now; which is used sparingly and very effectively. In the main story mode, most characters do not talk. The story is told entirely through gestures and expressions. This was a wise move, since if all 39 characters had been chatting away, it’d just raise the odds that one would’ve been done badly or displeased someone. Yes, in this game, silence truly is golden. But that’s just the actual dialogue which is absent. Characters will still yell out, laugh etc for taunts and attacks and this acting is done very well. The shortage of lines gave the actor the opportunity to really put their all into the short phrases, resulting in everyone sounding just how they should.

Gameplay: 9.5/10
Everyone knows that what really matters is the Gameplay. Brawl, in this respect, does not fail to deliver. It takes the old Melee mechanics (which were good enough as it was) and fine tunes them into an almost perfect playing experience. Characters respond perfectly to your controls (which are customisable by the way, and there are 4 controllers to use so the whole thing can be played your way) whilst also moving realistically and responding to their environment in the way they should without glitches. The good old single free for al mode is back (now called Brawl) and can be set up in any way you choose. All the other features from Melee return as well, like events and classic, also with next gen enhancements to make them so much more than simple rehashes of old concepts. The collecting experience has also been enhanced too. Instead of just 200+ trophies, there are 500+ Trophies, 700+ stickers, 100+ CDs to be found and stashed away. They can also be used to create scenes and such in the gallery. A whole multitude of new features have also been included, each just as good as the rest, such as stage builder, my music, boss battle and coin launcher. However there are still a few minor flaws. Stage builder feels quite limited; you can’t really put too much into your stage, and what you can is really limited (so no really cool stages). What you always ultimately end up with is a collection of platforms floating in front of some generic background. However, with some skill, you can create some decent floating stages in front of generic backgrounds and you always feel satisfied with the fact that it is YOUR stage. Trophy collecting also has some issues, mostly in the form of endless duplicates. Even with a relatively low trophy count (100-200) you’ll be seeing endless repeats of Wrinkly Kong and other common trophies in the coin launcher and in trophy boxes. Even after destroying wave after wave after wave of the indescribable enemies in the Launcher, you still get duplicates, which is unbelievable frustrating, especially if you’ve just wasted 3000+ coins hoping to get at least one of your favourite characters but instead just seeing repeat after repeat after repeat. But these are all just trifling problems when you compare them to the mighty Story Mode, entitled The Subspace Emissary. Far superior to Melee’s feeble “Trophies get up, trophies fight” plotline, Brawl gives us a really epic tale to fight through, which brings in all of the playable characters (well almost) and teams them up with the others (just like all Big N fans have been really wanting since the beginning of the series). The relatively simple plot is just what is needed to hold together a fast paced, action filled, side scrolling platformer/beat ‘em up. Every stage is overflowing with challenges and enemies and exploration, putting your Smash Bros Skills to the test. Plus the cutscenes are gorgeous. Also in this mode are boss battles. Fair enough, you say. So what? Well these bosses are some of the Nintendo classics that you’ve always wanted to see in the game, such as the much requested Ridley, along with Porky Minch, Petey Piranha and other Ninty Nasties. On harder difficulties, The Subspace Emissary can be a real challenge; which is welcome to any true brawler, but on Easier modes its possible for any newcomer to finish (but they’ll struggle to find all the hidden secrets). Overall, the Gameplay is brilliant.

Characters Included: 8.7/10
Melee’s roster was big. It had many of the most popular of Nintendo’s heroes and villains and everyone though that that was enough. Brawl shows us otherwise. With a final roster of 35 (but 39 if you count alternative forms) characters, Brawl has an extra 10 fighters, making us all slap our heads and say “Now why didn’t I wonder why _________ wasn’t in it before” Favourites like the dastardly King Dedede, Samus’ suitless form Zero Suit Samus and the comical Wario all make their Smash Bros debut. But not just Nintendo favs get to have the fun this time, oh no. Solid Snake of Metal Gear fame and the fastest thing alive, Sonic join in the fight this time, giving the roster even more credibility. Plus they’re all balanced much better than in Melee, meaning that you can win with just about any character, with no super losers like in previous instalments (although Jigglypuff is still a bit rubbish). Not just the playable favourites appear in this game. In the background and releasable from assist trophies/pokeballs are even more favourites, plus there are the bosses, giving the game that extra feeling that its there just to make you happy. However, some characters that shouldn’t have been missed have. King K.Rool from the DK series was a no brainer, that was missed out on a place. This is alright, untill you consider that many assist trophies are Japan only or really, really obscure which actually makes you angry that perhaps the assist trophy characters weren’t chosen well enough to cater for everyone’s needs. Plus Mewtwo was cut from the roster, even though he wasn’t a clone character, and replaced by Lucario, who serves no major role in the Pokemon Games series and is just a generic monster compared to Mewtwo’s role as the final boss of Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, FireRed, LeafGreen, Puzzle league, Stadium and Stadium 2. Sometimes you think that the roster could easily have been even bigger, but then you remember that its good enough already (especially including those 3rd party brawlers).
Stage Quality: 10/10
Not much to say here, except that the stage designs are pretty darned good. All have beautiful settings, interesting and unique gimmicks and are varied enough to make brawling on any of the fun. Plus the inclusion of Melee’s finest and the ability to make your own is good thinking by the creators.

Multiplayer and Online: 8.5/10
Just like the other 2 Smash Bros games before it, Brawl really excels in its multiplayer. Almost everything in it can be done with 2 or more people, even All Star and the story. This means that you can have a good laugh with your pals and never get bored, since if you tire of one mode, you can move onto the next. Smashing up your mates characters is both satisfying and potentially hilarious and makes Brawl an instant hit for parties and rainy days. Online though has its problems. Yes, there are many modes to play and yes, all are just as fun but the whole thing suffers frequently from lag. Then there are the “professionals”, who always want to play a final destination as Meta Knight with no items and make the whole thing a boring chore. Teaming up with a friend over the internet is fine, but for some reason Brawl will not let you team up with someone in the room with you on the same Wii to take on a team of 2 other friends. It’s best really to stick to offline multiplayer and play against people you know and can enjoy your time with, rather than try to enjoy yourself playing the “pros”.

Overall: 9.8/10
A truly legendary game that came so close to absolute perfection, but was let down by tiny chinks in its otherwise impenetrable armour. However it is still an absolute must have and one of the best (Top 3 at least) greatest Nintendo games ever made.