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March 15th, 2008 by Keato
Story mode
The most noticeable change in Brawl is the inclusion of a story mode, called ‘The Subspace Emissary’. The basic plotline is that a group called The Subspace Army led by The Ancient Minister has started blowing up regions of the world in giant, purple bubbles. At the beginning of the game, Mario and Kirby duke it out. After the match, the Subspace Army arrives and attacks. Over the course of the story you switch between groups of characters as they deal with the Subspace threat. The Subspace Emissary plays very similar to the Adventure mode from Melee, a side scrolling beat-em up. The Subspace Emissary provides every Nintendo fan’s dream by finally having Nintendo characters interact with each other. While they can’t talk, it’s still a sight to behold seeing Mario and Kirby team up.
The cut-scenes are great, looking incredibly good for a Wii game. The story was done by Kazushige Nojima, who was the scenario writer for the Final Fantasy series. The enemy design isn’t that amazing, and while enemies from the Mario games do make several appearances, it would have been nice to see enemies from other games like Zelda or Sonic instead of the so-so original enemy designs. For the most part, you are only given an option for one or two characters in most levels, which is actually useful as it helps you get to know some characters you may otherwise never play as.
This mode is also playable with a friend. Sadly, the camera only follows the first player, and if your friend isn’t up to par with the game, they will often end up off the screen, which results in them taking damage. The gameplay gets fairly repetitive after a while, but the story is interesting enough to keep you in to the end.
Online features
Another major addition is the inclusion of Wi-Fi internet play. While the service is handicapped, primarily because of issues with Nintendo’s friend code system, the online play is strangely addictive. If you don’t have any friends, you’ll have to settle for a two minute match with no name or communication. If you do have friends, however, you can set up specific matches and even play some modes extra modes. The Home-Run Contest, for example, is where players aim to deal enough damage to a sandbag so when they hit it with the Home-Run Bat, it flies really far. The game runs fairly smoothly for the most part, although I did encounter one match where the game stopped with 10 seconds left to play.
There is a lot more to Super Smash Bros Brawl’s online features however. There is a level creator in the game, and while not as deep as something like Unreal Tournament, is very fun to mess around with and create your own mini-levels. You can even send your levels into Nintendo and every day players will be able to download the “Level of the Day” as decided by Nintendo.
Limitless options
The best way to play Brawl is to play it with friends. The options are limitless, from timed battles, stock battles, and coin battles. Not to mention that you can affect how the match itself is played, changing things like handicaps, items, and numerous other things. A tournament mode is also included, so if you have more than the max 4 people over everyone can still play.
Pretty much everything you do in Super Smash Bros Brawl gives you something, whether it be a sticker or trophy or coins which can be used to buy more trophies. It is here where the game inherent strength comes from. The game is literally full of ‘Nintendo love’. There are unlockable trophies you can collect from all over the Nintendo universe and Virtual Console demos that allow you to play certain moments from some of the game’s characters storied past. There is even a catalogue that lists every Nintendo game for every Nintendo system dating back to the Game and Watch and stickers that you can collect and put in a sticker book. It is entirely possible that it could take years before someone unlocks everything, there is just that much of it.
One of the greatest
While there are some long load times, the game runs pretty well. The menus are simple and easy to navigate, and since they don’t use the Wii remote you don’t have to worry about hitting the wrong button.
Super Smash Bros Brawl is easily one of the greatest games for the Wii, and the best game in the series. With new and unique characters, new modes, new stages, and online play, it has lived up to the expectations. While some problems persist, the game still comes highly recommended, and will, much like Melee before it, live on the Nintendo sales charts for years to come.
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Graphics
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9 |
How hooked?
9
(not an average)
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Sound
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10 |
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Interface
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9 |
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Replay
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10 |
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Gameplay
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9 |
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Stability
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9 |
Total votes: 9 - give us yours!
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Developer:
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Game Arts |
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Publisher:
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Nintendo |
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Release:
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March 9th, 2008 |
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Genre:
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Fighting |
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A must have for all Nintendo fans. More unlockable content than ever imagined, unique new characters and stages make Super Smash Bros Brawl one of the games to beat for Game of the Year. |
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