Full Review for Super Smash Bros. Brawl by johnkrill

Introduction

Super Smash Bros. Brawl is the next in the Super Smash Brothers series. After a 7 year gap (Melee was created in 2001), Nintendo has finally dished out this great game.

Is it worth buying? If you are looking for a great multiplayer can for your Wii, than yes. No other game rivals the Super Smash Bros. Series.

Graphics

Brawl's graphics use the Wii's capabilities to it's best, rivaling the beautiful graphics of Wii's other hit game, Twilight Princess. The new stages and backgrounds are amazing, and the characters have all gotten make-overs from they're melee state. Most notably is Link's Twilight Princess skin. All characters come in a variety of "suits," ranging through the rainbow, a much better result than Melee's limited color change.

Brawl's graphics deserve a 9 out of 10.

Sound

Sound is a rather hard thig to grade on a game like this. There are plenty of sounds, and none seem to have too many problems with them.

However, compared to the Japanese version of Brawl, the voices for the characters sound rather awkward. Mario has a very deep voice, and many other characters have distorted voices (in comparison to melee).

If you are a new player, these voice changes shouldn't bother you, but speaking a a veteran melee player, it just sounds kind of interesting when I listen to the voice changes.

8 out of 10.

Gameplay

Brawl's gameplay is actually much different that melee's gameplay was. For the newer players, you may not understand some of the things I will be talking about. Therefore, I'll break this into two sections.

General
The game itself is extremely fun. Brawl has kept all of the fun from melee and made it better. Classic mode has been made longer for a bigger challenge, and event matches and stadium have been changed and improved. Break the targets has difficulty levels!

What is more interesting is the Adventure mode of the game, which has been made COMPLETELY better. Though characters never speak, a storyline is laid down for you to follow and develop. There are countless stages and event, as well as bosses that you and your characters must overcome to succeed, and Brawl makes you utilized every character that this game has to offer!

The character selection has been increased again. Brawl added many new characters such as Pit and Meta Knight, as well as throwing in a few crowd favorites like Sonic and Snake (from Metal Gear Solid). A few characters from Melee have been eliminated, but replaced by similar characters to refresh the selection. No doubt that players will have lots of fun experimenting with these new characters and unlocking the secrets they have to offer.

Stages have been added and improved. There are two sections for stages, Brawl stages and original Melee stages that your characters can duke it out on. Many newer stages have een increased in size, and and more interactive with the players than just a place to fight. Some require palyers to perform an action that (if done) will result in a power-up for the fight.

Another new section is the stage creation, where players can actually manufacture their own stages. It's pretty interesting, but rather a development to the game, for the stages are rather bland to make and require lots of effort. Most players just stick to the stages that Brawl comes with.

Items have been revamped and many have been added. The most notable item is the smash ball, which activates a character's FINAL SMASH if broken. These attacks are extremely deadly and fun to watch, and it is the main thing that makes brawl's gameplay different from it's preceeding games.


Technical
This is for all of you veteran players that are use to how melee goes. I do have a few comments.

The reaction time of attacks feels off at times. I could hit a button and 1 second later, that action is carried out. The jumps seem a little bit shorter too. Even when hitting somebody, there is a brief pause before that person is sent flying. Nothing big, just noting that Brawl is a bit slower in gameplay than Melee was.

Also, many of your melee favorites have actually been "watered down" in terms of theire capabilities. Marth has a much slower running speed and less powerful attacks. Sheik is slower too, and WAY less powerful. In fact, the transformation from Zelda to Sheik is WAY too long. Other characters have either been reduced in speed or power, which kind of ruin the game for veteran players (whom must seek out better characters).

I'm not trying to say that those characters are terrible. I am just pointing out that the feel is something to get use to.


All in all, this game is an 8 in gameplay, but that is coming from the melee veteran side of me. IF you are new, Brawl deserves a 10.

Lastability

Brawl can outlast any other game, just like Melee did. It has been seven years and I still enjoy the fun that nelee brought. Brawl can deliver the same results. Even after comepleting adventure and classis with every character, there are still trophies to collect, event matches to play, stages to unlock, etc. Even after all of that has been done, players must still perfect their skill against eachother.

Brawl is the number one muliplayer game for the Wii, and probably the only party game to play when you've got a large group of people. Even two people can duke it out, or add computer players for the added fun.

I'm predicting that five years from now, people will still be talking about Brawl.

Lasability is a 10 no doubt.

Overall

Overall, Brawl is the current game to get, and is currently the game that everybody is sharing their stories. With added characters, stages, features, events, and MORE, brawl is the perfect game to keep people entertained with their Wiis.

Anybody can play, and everybody will enjoy!

Final Score: 88%