Brawl isn't quite the leap that Melee made from the original. But it feels like the perfecting of a great series.
The Smash series is largely loved as a multi player game. You and three buddies or just you and the CPU opponents can choose your favorite Nintendo characters to square off against each other. Up to four people can play in one match. Instead of health gauges you instead get percentage gauges on Brawl. When you are attacked your percentage gauge will go higher. The higher your percentage gauge, the easier it is to get knocked off screen. When you are knocked off screen you lose a point and the person that knocks you off screen gains a point. Whoever has the most points at the end of a timed match, wins. You can decide how long the match lasts. It could be a quickie one minute match or even an epic 99 minute showdown.
There are more ways to play Brawl than timed matches however. If time isn't your thing you can play a stock match. In stock matches you choose how many lives each character starts with, and once that character loses all their lives, they are out of the match. Coin matches are the other way to play. By hitting an opponent you cause them to omit and lose coins. The player with the most coins at the end of the match, wins. If you want to get a little more creative and crazier, you can go to special brawl to spice up and customize your matches even further. I believe that Smash Bros. is so loved fighter because it's unpredictable, frantic, and not constricted.
The stages in Smash Bros. are very different than most stages on other fighting games. Each stage is themed with Nintendo greatness. You can fight at Norfair from Metroid. You can fight at Yoshi's Island, Eldin Bridge from Twilight Princess, the first level of the original Super Mario Bros, inside of a Mr. Game & Watch hand held electronic game, or even on the Nintendo DS Pictochat screen. Most of the stages change, move, and interact in ways that can really help determine the final outcome of a match. Some levels are crazy while others are simplistic.
And others are small while some are huge. There are plenty of characters to fight with in Brawl. A total of 35 characters in fact. And each character can become a fantastic fighter if taken the time to master. All of the characters in the game except for two are all characters from Nintendo's most beloved franchises as well as a few other Nintendo characters that are not in a video game at all. You'll see what I mean when you unlock all of the characters. Aside from your characters attacks you can also allow items to come into the match. You can select what items you want to come in and how much of the items you want to appear as well. The best item in the game is also one of Brawl's most attractive new features.
The Smash Ball is an item that floats around the screen. Inside the smash ball is this great power that gives whoever busts it open a final smash attack. The final smash attack is the most devastating attack in the game. Depending on what character you have, you could get up to 3 K.O.s in 10 seconds or less. This can really change the outcome of the match just all of a sudden. Each character has a smash attack.
So perhaps you're not too big on multi player. Perhaps you just don't know anyone that is interested in playing Smash Bros. with you? Perhaps you aren't able to take advantage of Brawl's online capabilities? Is Brawl still a game worthy of your Wii collection even as a single player experience you ask? Yes. Although you will be missing out on a big piece of meat of the game, you will still find that there is a load of content and a lot of things to do in Brawl that will keep you busy for a long time to come.
There are plenty of game modes, events, trophies, stages, characters, stickers, music tracks, and a lot of other content to unlock and sink your teeth into. There is also a stage editor in Brawl. And while it isn't all that amazing, it can still provide for some creative fun. Now on to to the game modes for single players. In Classic mode you must choose one character, a certain amount of lives, and a difficulty setting to get ready to go through 12 stages. On each stage you must fight a certain amount of characters or complete a certain objective to advance to the next level. And sometimes you will get an ally to help you.
When you complete Classic mode with your character of choice you are rewarded with the trophy of that character. I will get to trophies a little further in the review. If you have been following Smash Bros. in the least, or reading reviews, you have probably most definitely heard of the new single player adventure mode called the Subspace Emissary.
If you have read anything on the Subspace Emissary you have probably seen some good, mixed, and bad things said about it. Subspace Emissary isn't your ordinary stomp and romp through a single player mode in a fighting game. It could take up to 8-10 hours to complete, and it's how you unlock pretty much every character in the entire game. The Subspace Emissary is like a side scrolling adventure/platformer/2D fighter brewed all into one. You start at the beginning and your goal is to get to the end of the stage. When you complete a stage you are taken to a map screen so you can go on to the next stage or visit stages you have already completed.
The Subspace Emissary is amusing for a while, but can get a bit repetitive. It was something that I personally could not stomach in large chunks. I had to nibble by coming back multiple times to eventually play my way through. Otherwise I would have gotten sick of it. I won't say that the Subspace Emissary is a flop. There is some sort of story to it. And although it doesn't make sense, it's nice to see the characters of Nintendo meet each other and come together.
The Subspace Emissary is also very rewarding and on it's own it would still be a pretty decent little game. If you're planning on getting Brawl for the single player experience you will also have a lot of goodies to unlock. There is a trophy for pretty much everything that you see in the entire game as well as hundreds and hundreds of trophies from different Nintendo series. Each trophy has a lot of info telling about the stage, character, item, or model it's representing.
There is also a sticker book in which you can collect all sorts of stickers from the Nintendo world and beyond as well. Other than those modes and unlockables there are a few other events and challenges as well. The stage editor is also a very cool addition as well. You won't be able to create stages with the artistic style like the ones in the actual game, but you can still let your creative side come out with what the game does give you. You can choose the size, background, and music of your stage and get to work. You can unlock new platforms, features, and other things for your stage as well.
Now to the meat of the game. The multi player is still the heart of the Smash Bros. series. Locally you can get one to three buddies and duke it out, or you can finally go online. When Nintendo finally announced that Brawl would have online not too long before its release, everyone was happy, including myself. So am I happy after experiencing a lot of online play so far? As much as I want to say how awesome it is to Brawl online, I do have some gripes. My first gripe isn't particularly about Brawl, but about friend codes.
This is the first game I have tried to use friend codes with and I can finally see what all of the grumbling is about. If you're like me you will want to find dozens of people to play online with. Just in case someone else isn't on at a particular time, you can find someone else on perhaps. The best way to find friends to Brawl with is to go online and find some good forums. I recommend our very own Gamespot forums and the official Wii Friend Codes sites.
The problem is that you have to enter this gigantic thread where everyone is desperately trying to exchange codes.You have to jot down and enter these long twelve digit codes, and then wait to see if the other person registers you. I have several people on my list whom I have added and private messaged them, and they still have not registered me on their friend code roster. Friend Codes is a hassle. Now on to my gripe about Brawl's online.
If you do not Brawl with a friend online you can only play a 2 minute time match against strangers with no names displayed. So after going through the friend code mess and finally finding a few guys (or ladies) to play with, you then have lag issues. Before I vent about the lag issues I will say that with friends your options and customizations for Brawls open up tremendously. Now on to the lag issues.
I have had a few matches that have almost been lag free. This is a rarity, but it feels like a blessing when it happens. But for the most part my experience has seemed like a curse. There has been a very noticeable lag in most of my matches and sometimes rendering the match completely unplayable. Even yet, I will admit that Brawling is pretty addictive online. I just hope I can get into more lag free matches.
Brawl is a very sharp looking game. Galaxy is still the best looking game on the Wii, but being second best isn't so bad. The animations are fluid. The character models are sleek. The visual design is fantastic. And the cut scenes are eye candy. As far as sound goes, Brawl has an amazing soundtrack. You can find CDs throughout the Subspace Emissary and unlock music by doing different events and modes as well. You can then listen to the music you unlock at any time or you can choose what songs you want to have play on certain stages when you Brawl on them. You can also put whatever music from the game on your own levels that you create as well.
The soundtrack mainly consists of huge remixed and orchestrated Nintendo classic tunes. This game will make you realize that Nintendo is the king of music in video games. The music is one of the games greatest strengths. Possibly the best video game soundtrack of all time right here.
Brawl will keep you playing for a long time. If you owned and loved Melee chances are that you played for years. Now add just about anything good that you can possibly add to that game and you have Brawl. Brawl isn't revolutionary, but it's a leap.
Brawl isn't quite the leap that Melee made from the original. But it feels like the perfecting of a great series. The Smash Bros. series has reached its peak. And if this is the last entry in the series... it certainly goes out with a bang.