Multiplayer is where the real fun is at!
Now whilst Subspace Emissary is all well and good, that’s not the real reason anyone would want to buy Super Smash Bros. Brawl. No, the real reason for forking out for this is to take on your mates and give them a bloody good thrashing… or, if you happen to a be digital hermit, take on your online mates and give them a damn good thrashing. Yes, Super Smash Bros. Brawl is all about kicking nine bells out of the other guy and this is where it comes into its own on so many levels.Like all the best Nintendo titles, Super Smash Bros. Brawl starts off feeling fairly simplistic. The basic controls can be mastered in seconds and even the special moves don’t require you to memorise seventeen different button presses and pull them off with a timing that’d make an atomic clock blush. It’s all very, very easy. Of course, you need to pick a control scheme that’s suitable for you and Super Smash Bros. Brawl supports everything from just a Wii Remote held sideways through to adding on the nunchuck, using the classic pad or your GameCube controller. I was hoping for some Wii Remote swinging about stuff but no, it’s all button and gamepad pummelling, which might be a good thing as it can get a bit intense.
To help you in a fight there’s a load of power-ups which drop into the arena for either side to grab. The vast majority of these will be familiar to anyone who’s played even a handful of Nintendo titles... such as the flame throwing Fire Flower from Mario or the Nintendo Scope from the 8-Bit NES days, all of which are extremely welcome in a tight spot. Possibly the two most devastating are the Donkey Kong hammer which just blats anyone that comes near or the mighty Smash Ball which powers your character up, morphing them into something incredible which utterly obliterates the opposition. Words cannot convey how pissed I was when, with victory in sight a Smash Ball lands right in front of the missus and her Yoshi transformed into a bloody great dragon spewing flames and fireballs that knocked me for six in mere seconds… damn you Smash Ball!
And that’s what makes Super Smash Bros. Brawl so much fun is that even if you’re taking a pasting there’s always a chance you can turn things around. Every character has their own set of special moves, based on that character’s usual abilities so a big part of the fun is finding out what the moves are. For me, Diddy Kong’s Monkey Flip has to be the best for outright giggles while Pokemon Trainer has to be the most versatile character as you can flip between three Pokemon, each with their own set of moves. And if you ever start to tire of just straight fights, how about mucking around with the game rules? Here you can adjust pretty much everything from match length and type through to damage indicators and item drop type or frequency.
But multiplayer is where Super Smash Bros. Brawl is really at and here you’ve got more than enough modes to keep everyone happy. First off, Brawl/Team Battle sees up to four players slogging it out either as a team or in one big fisticuff session. Then there’s Rotation where 16 players can take it in turns to knock lumps out of each other. And for the party animal, how about a Tournament mode for up to 32 players? Not bad eh?
Of course, if you’ve no-one around to fight with at home, take Super Smash Bros. Brawl online to fight against your registered friends or against anyone you fancy. Superbly, in a ‘With Friends’ online match you can have up to three people on one Wii and one online on another… so the logical split is two v two in teams. When playing with anyone you can still team up but you’ll be randomly paired with someone to play two other players also randomly paired up. For the more extrovert amongst you, you can allow spectators to most matches too, showing off your uber-1337 skillz as Princess Peach… if you want to.
And finally, if that weren’t enough, there’s a whole slew of extras hiding in the Vault area. Chief among these is the Stage Editor, which allows you to create and share your own stages. So if you reckon you can do better, then do it. It’s a simple drag and drop interface and really is a dead easy to use. But there’s plenty more in here too. The aforementioned stickers are accessed through here as well as info on yet-to-be-beaten stages, trophies and stickers as well as the Coin Launcher mini-game that gives you the chance to unlock even more stuff. There’s even a Masterpieces section that lets you demo most of the games which the characters are taken from.
And if you're at all unsure of what I'm going on about, check out this superb gameplay walkthrough.
So as you’ve probably guessed by now, I’m feeling pretty positive towards Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which actually surprised me as I was taking all those high end US review scores with a large pinch of salt. But it really is a very, very good game, chiefly because it’s simplicity to learn but full of those wonderful intricacies that are the hallmark of a great Nintendo title. For Nintendo fans they’ll relish in being able to play and name all the characters in the game and for those of us who have a life, we’ll just enjoy the ease of being able to pull off special moves and win a match without having to pound buttons in the precise order.
Overall, Super Smash Bros. Brawl is certainly one of the best Wii titles to date and ranks higher than Mario Kart and possibly even Super Mario Galaxy as one of the absolute must-have titles on the Wii. It’s less predictable than Mario Kart and has all the multiplayer options you could wish for. Throw in the built-in tournament mode, the stage editor and all those little extras and Super Smash Bros. Brawl is truly deserving of an Editor’s Choice Award. Go and buy it, you’ll love it.
Pros
Incredibly easy to play
Full of all your favourite console heroes and heroines
Brilliant power-ups and special moves
All the multiplayer options you could want
Unpredictable fights
Fast, frantic and fun action
Cons
Using ‘up’ on the d-pad to jump is awful on the Wii Remote
Single player story is fun but generic
Super Smash Bros. Brawl – It’s super, smashing and marvellous!
HEXUS Awards
Super Smash Bros. Brawl - Wii
