"It started off great, only to lead to boredom in the end."

I've had Super Smash Bros. Brawl since the day it came out, and I've had (and loved) every Smash Bros. game before it. At the beginning, I was hooked. It was the greatest game ever for me. I played non stop. However, after beating the Subspace Emissary and getting every character and stage, everything else just seemed to be... extra. Once I got down to the heart of the gameplay, multiplayer, I was addicted for the longest time. The only problem is, unlike Melee, it gets boring extremely quickly. You'll find that each match is basically more of the same. There are no full combos. There are too many good recoveries. It's too floaty. It's been transformed from a fighter to a party game. In this review, I will go over all of the aspects of the game, instead of just the general ones. This will, hopefully, help you make your choice on if Brawl is right for you.

Graphics - 8/10
Great graphics... for a Wii game. I looked at them with my mouth gaping open at the first point. However, after playing it for some time, the graphics were just... normal. They weren't fancy or special anymore. They just blended in. They're nice, but I'm no longer in shock about how amazing they are.

Music - 10/10
This is the most stunning part of the game. Basically, while playing, if you see a CD, pick it up. This will become a piece of music, which can play on a certain stage (you can alter how often it comes on in 'My Music.') There are over 250 tracks to find. They're all GREAT songs. Some of them are the same music from old games, some are medleys, some are redone songs from Melee, etc. They're great, beautiful pieces of work.

Subspace Emissary - 3/10
The Subspace Emissary is the adventure mode to the game. The graphics are great in this part. It is the real first player from any Super Smash Bros. game. At first, it seems great. Fight enemies, beat up Petey Pirahna, try to save the world. However, it's long and tedious. Everything gets repetitive after awhile, and it never really changes. It's just battling and completing the course, battling and completing the course, battling and completing the course. It's very boring, and the plot doesn't even explain everything near the end.

Gameplay - 5/10
This has been extremely watered down since Melee. Think back to then. You had your advance techniques, such as L-Cancelling and Wavedash to master. You had enless combos that you could pull off. You had intense edgeguarding. You had fastfalling characters to throw you off and slow falling characters to dominate in the air. You had some sort of speed. What do you have in Brawl? Your advanced technique is fastfalling. Your combos are one hit, occasionally two. Everyone's recovery is too good to edgeguard well. No one falls very fast. Everybody is floaty and dominates in the air. Everybody is slow on the ground. Your whole Brawl game is, basically, go up, do an attack, follow up with another one. There's no strategy involved. The air dodge, shield, and roll is the only defense, instead of the dodge and attack sequence. Melee's constant gameplay can last you ages, while Brawl's repetitive gameplay can last you days.

Classic - 3/10
It's even more repetitive this time around. The first battle is always a Legend of Zelda character. The battles after that are usually always done with the same characters each time. However, there are many more matches now, and get this- Target Smash is the only bonus challenge. Worthless, huh?

Characters - 7/10
The characters are all much more balanced in this game. You're no longer forced to play Marth, you can now safely play as Kirby and dominate him. Although the clone characters are still here, they all have changed movesets, making them slightly different than their old characters counterparts. There are some problems, though. One is the lack of strategy that the characters hold. Olimar must pluck Pikmin, but that's not much strategy. Pokemon Trainer must switch occasionaly, but that's not strategy, either. Gliders can learn to glide, but it takes two seconds. Besides the lack of strategy, there's lack of diversity. Many of the characters play the same way, making it all come down to who you like instead of who fits your playstyle better.

Stages - 4/10
The stages fail hard. Don't get me wrong, they're well done. However, from a competitive standpoint, very few of them can be used. Even the good old ones have been toned down. Final Destination now has a lip that recoveries can be caught under (this also applies to many other stages.) Many stages now contain many hazards, scroll a lot, change in location, have points that benefit one character over another, etc. Even putting that aside, let's look at the Melee stages. They brought back the ones that cannot be used competitively (for the most part.) They're also mostly the ones that nobody really liked. A waste.

Loading - 5/10
In Melee, there was no loading time whatsoever. In Brawl, there's all of the alerts at the beginning, then a HUGE loading sequence. Mostly, the whole thing is filled with loading sequences. They could have put less time into the graphics and the loading that nobody liked and put it in another area. That's what's slowing it down.

Stage Builder - 3/10
Your parts, map, and sizes are limited. You'll find that many built maps are similar and more or less unplayable. It seems great at first, but the greatness ends very quickly. It just becomes boring quickly, and tedious, to say the least.

Masterpieces - 1/10
You get about a minute of playtime from an old game. It's not even close to enough time to determine if it's good for you. The load time to start is tremendous, and the load time to end is equally as bad, possibly worse. They last pretty much no time, and it ends very quickly.

Multi Man Brawl - 2/10
I'll keep this short: the same as the old games. Just face a bunch of characters. Nothing special. Very boring. Very bad. Homerun contest is also very bad. The only changes are that you can use two people now. Just... not good.

Target Smash - 4/10
Instead of the last game where everyone got a unique stage, everyone now has the SAME EXACT STAGE. There are five different levels to choose some with items scattered about, but that doesn't mean that it's better. It's very boring and tedious now. The only redeeming quality is the fact that it's fair if you want to share scores with someone and see which character is the best.

Events - 2/10
This was one of the most fun modes in the last game for me. Now, it's utter crap. There are only 41 events this time, for starters. They're pretty much all the same - beat a few computers with no special conditions (one on occasion, but it's rare.) They have different difficulties now, but it's still ridiculously easy. They also have Co-Op, which is basically the same thing as one player with less events, but the ones there are (oh so slightly) more complicated. Not good, not good.

Challenges - 7/10
This is one of the -okay- parts that I actually liked about the game. Challenges is a wall of many different objectives. If you complete them, you get an award, like a CD, sticker, trophy, etc. It can keep you amused for awhile, but many of the challenges were rather tedious.

Online - 2/10
What part of America was fooled by the video on Smash Bros. DOJO!!! showing how there was no lag? Well, guess what? You're wrong. There was no lag because they were the ONLY PEOPLE USING THE ONLINE MODE. If too many people are using it, there will be tremendous lag, which there always is. Even if there's no visible lag, each attack will be off about a second or a half, hindering the gameplay by a high amount. Not good at all.


So, there you have it. Brawl is a tremendously overrated game. If you're competitive, you will dislike this game. If you loved the original Smash Bros., you will probably like it. If you like fast paced games, this is not for you. If you're the kind who doesn't like taking it fast and would rather enjoy the laid back gameplay style, go out and buy it. If you liked the past Smash Bros. games but enjoyed Melee more, rent it first. If you think that you will like it, buy it. However, be warned - this is not Melee 2. This is not a fighter. This is a party game. This is Brawl.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 04/10/08

Game Release: Super Smash Bros. Brawl (US, 03/09/08)