Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Originally released on: Nintendo Wii
Played on: Nintendo Wii
Release date: 2008
Like Sonic 2 before it, this game is one that is played in our house on a pretty regular basis. If you don't know the premise of it - then allow me to explain. You know all those times you've wanted to see Mario punch Luigi? Or Link shoot Zelda with an arrow? Or all those times you've wanted to pummel Pikachu, or serve up a giant can of whoopass to Samus? This is the game for you. (Note - Can of whoopass not included with game.)
It's basically an all-star fighting game populated by Nintendo characters and the object is to beat the other people up until they fly off the screen and die. That's pretty much it. But it's fast, furious and lots of fun. And this iteration (the third in the series, the previous two being Super Smash Bros on N64 and Super Smash Bros Melee on Gamecube) has it all - more stages, more modes and more characters, including two third-party characters for the first time - Snake from Metal Gear Solid and Sonic the Hedgehog himself!
As this is primarily a multi-player game, I decided that this playthrough would require assistance, and therefore, once again, Neety stepped in to help me out.
Hello. I am Neet. In other news, I was invited to play Super Smash Bros. Brawl by my darling fiance which is surprising because normally I whoop his ass at this game.
I would deny her comment, but it is true - she's a lot better at this game than me. Wisely, we decided to play team-up modes for the hour of playthrough so that it was the two of us against that evillest of opponents, the computer. Sadly (due to me being an idiot) I could only find one wii-mote, so Neety used that, while I plugged in a Gamecube controller (not my preferred method of control for this game) and we began.
We started by playing half an hour of the 'Subspace Emissary' mode. This mode is a combination of fighting game and platformer - kind of like Streets of Rage in the Nintendoverse, but with more jumping and less 80's hairstyles. It's a lot of fun, and when it came out (prior to the revival of 2D platformers as a genre) I felt that this was the closest I would ever get to a new 2D platformer for a mainstream console of this generation. How wrong was I! But still, it's fun, if let down by a couple of minor points, the most common of which is that, although you share lives between you if playing in two player, the screen scrolls with player 1 - so if you end up getting too far ahead, or getting knocked further on in a level due to a fight, it's not going to help player 2 at all - as they will either die or be magically returned to your side, making it feel like an uneven partnership. On the whole though, the Subspace Emissary mode is fun, challenging and has some entertaining cut scenes as you watch the partnerships between characters mix up and become very strange...
Do you remember that time, when you were five years old, and your parents took you to B&Q to buy some stupid wallpaper for your stupid brother's stupid room? And to quiet down your whining your father bought you a can of Dr Pepper from the vending machine and then asked you to hold a bottle of white spirit? And then by accident you drank the white spirit and spent the next 4 1/2 hours running around tripping your head off? Well that is exactly what the Subspace Emissary is not like. Instead it's more like a video game, which you play with your other half if you want to break up with them. Marvel with delight as your other half (playing as player one) runs off the side of the screen and leaves you stranded while monsters that nobody can see advance on you. Gasp, as your stupid f***ing partner dies, taking with him your last life, even though you hadn't died at all and had barely had your hit points touched! Fling with anger, your favourite vase at him as he entirely f***s your game up just by being player one! Basically, what I am saying is, whoever starts off as player one should expect to be thoroughly hated by the end of the game. It's a fun platformer, with a lot of promise, and with an interesting host of obstacles and enemies to overcome, but it still is essentially a 2D platform game - an add-on to an already well-developed beat-em-up game.
As you can tell from Neety's paragraph above, it is rather frustrating being the better player and being stuck as player two in this mode. So after half an hour we decided (in a bid to ensure that we remained a happy couple) to change over to the All-Star mode, where the two of us have to defeat every other character with one life. Well, I say one life, there are a selection of heart power ups available in the level select screen, and of course you can use continues at the cost of halving your points total each time, but still. The All-Star mode is much closer to the "real" Smash Bros in that you are on a single stage, smacking the crap out of people until they fly off the screen, at which point you are deemed to be the winner. (Unless they smacked you off the stage, in which case you are the loser, or unless you fell off the stage yourself, in which case you're an idiot.) But once again, all of the good things come to the fore - the controls are tight (you do devolve into a small amount of button mashing, but there's enough skill involved to make it feel like a game rather than an endurance test) and the whole thing is permeated with a huge sense of fun. Plus you get to smack Captain Falcon from F-Zero upside the head, which is fun. Sadly, you can't attack Slippy Toad from Starfox, as he is not playable, which is annoying because, lets be honest, if there was any Nintendo character you wanted to smack about, he'd be pretty high in the list wouldn't he?
And I haven't even mentioned all of the trophies, the stickers, the unlockables, the game demos... Smash Bros Brawl is chock-full of content, and if you have people round in an evening, the four player mode is incredibly satisfying (and if there are more than four of you, you can have a tournament!). Yes, it can get a bit busy on screen (a big TV is a must, or even better, a projector like the one I have *smugface*) and yes, there is luck involved as well as skill, but all in all it is a cracking game.
Even if Sonic is a disappointingly rubbish character to play.
Any final words from Neety?
I first played this game when it came out four years ago (which seems like a ridiculous amount of time) and I still enjoy it today as much as I enjoyed it then. It frequently makes an appearance at parties and family gatherings, and I don't think it's likely to lose it's playability even if it's just out for half an hour every couple of weeks. However, I felt cheated by a few things during my first playthrough. For instance, the last character you unlock is Jigglypuff, and he/she/it felt like a pallette swap containing most of Kirby's moveset. What is it with Nintendo and their love of gooey pink things?
It's not just Nintendo. I like marshmallows. They're gooey and pink.
I don't care Brawny. Shut up, this is my segment. Get your own blog.
This is my blog...
Your argument is irrelevant. Anyway, here is a list of my five least favourite characters:
1) Ness - because he is too similar to Lucas.
2) Jigglypuff - for reasons stated above.
3) Craptain Falcon (No, that is not a spelling mistake) - for being too similar to other characters and possibly due to me not liking the F-Zero games.
4) I said Jigglypuff didn't I. Well can I put him/her on there twice? Good.
5) Zero Suit Samus - again, for being too similar to Sheik and certain other human fighters, and for having to waste a smash ball just to put her clothes back on. Seriously. She's like some kind of crap reverse stripper.
That's all I can think of for now. Stop milking me for content. Make your own bloody content... *grumbles as she walks away*
So there we have it. A good game with some minor flaws, but still an awful lot of fun.
Rating: 9/10
Time played: About 1 hr 10 minutes.
Would I play it again: Regularly.
Next time - it's back to a handheld console for some more platforming fun!
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