GAME REVIEW: Super Smash Bros. Brawl for Nintendo Wii

By Lex Eskobar “The Game Bud”

Finally, Nintendo gives us the long-awaited sequel to GameCube’s best fighting game. Selling over seven million copies, Super Smash Bros. Melee had a great deal of success on Nintendo’s purple box. Some of us were even playing it on our Wiis in anticipation for Brawl’s release. Well the wait is over and Smash Bros is back with more characters, levels and features than ever before.

Smash Bros pits characters from across the Nintendo universe in frantic battles full of items and interactive stages ripped right from Nintendo’s game library. With a total of 35 characters, 36 if you count Zero Suit Samus, there is somebody for everyone in this four-player beat down dispenser. Each character has their own special moves and their own abilities, which makes trying each character a rewarding learning experience.

The controls are not very difficult and newbies and veterans alike will be able to pick up this game and play their hearts out. Each character’s specials are done in the same way as everyone else’s, which, while making it easy to remember controls, does make the characters less unique. The game supports Wiimote and nunchuck controls, Wiimote alone, GameCube controller and classic controller allowing almost everyone to find a control scheme to their liking. You can even configure the buttons but normally the defaults are best.

The levels range in size and can be filled with as many or as few items as you desire. The look of each stage is unique and totally trippy with levels that are straight out of Mario Brothers, Star Fox and The Legend of Zelda to name a few. With a ton of levels to be unlocked and customizable features, your battles won’t feel old for quite some time.

The games boasts quite a few modes of play, including a rather uninspired online multiplayer mode that requires you to re-register friend codes if you want to invite friends to play in customized matches rather than just simple two minute timed fights. Smash Bros is definitely meant to be a multiplayer game, even though the one player story mode is better than it has ever been. The game really caters to the multiplayer aspect, allowing two players to play most of the single player modes as well as allowing up to four people to brawl it out in the main mode.

The graphics and audio are both really good for a Wii title and for a system that has seen way too many craptastic games released, it is nice to have a game worth playing. Smash Bros Brawl is definitely worth the price of admission and worthy of 3 out of 5 pot leaves. Roll up a fatty and kick Mario’s face in!