Super Smash Bros. Brawl is a game that’s practically impossible to hate if you’ve been playing games for a serious length of time, unless you’re the sort of jerk who automatically hates anything that’s popular. But how much will you like it? That’s a much more difficult question to answer.
Like the previous games in the series, Brawl takes a basic four-player fighting game and applies the accessibility of a typical party game. Though it’s a little more nuanced in spots and feels like the characters who were overpowered in the previous game are a little more balanced in this outing, it’ll be hard for any but the most die-hard Smash Bros. fans to notice a meaningful difference. If you’re just getting started and have no idea what the series is all about, it’ll probably take you around 30 minutes to pick up the basics and understand why, exactly, you don’t want to fall off the edges of the game’s numerous backgrounds. After another hour or so, you’ll figure out how to prevent yourself from falling to your death over and over again.
The time you spend getting familiar with the game isn’t spent figuring out the controls. All of the moves are easy to pull off, even though there are more moves in the game than you might initially suspect. Getting used to the game, whether you’re new to the series or just haven’t played it in a long time, is more about training yourself to keep up with the action. Smash Bros. is an extremely chaotic game, especially with four players going at once. It can be difficult to follow the action.
However, that chaos is one of the best things about the series. The gameplay is at its best when you’re sitting next to three friends, manically pounding on buttons and shouting at the top of your lungs. At some point, taking a break to order and eat pizza should be involved. It’s a game that gets better as you and your crew get more rambunctious, which is why so many people think it’s just for kids. It’s also why the game’s online multiplayer isn’t of much use. While it’s technically functional, playing in the cold world of Nintendo’s online service completely misses the point of the whole game. With no voice chat, there’s no way to yell at your friends. But even voice chat wouldn’t properly duplicate the experience of playing with your friends. You’ll need a posse of people who are just as excited about Smash Bros. as you are if you want to get the most out of the gameplay.
That doesn’t mean, however, that there’s nothing for you if you don’t know anyone else who cares about this release. To use myself as an example, I don’t know one other person who genuinely cares about the series. So my multiplayer experiences haven’t been the rowdy, curse-filled adventures that seem like this game’s stock in trade. Instead, they’ve consisted of me telling people how to play, we play for 10 minutes or so, shrugs are sent my way, and we go do something else. Yet, in spite of that, I’ve still managed to have a really good time with the single-player modes, because they still tap into the other big thing about the Smash Bros. series.
This game is absolutely infested with nostalgic minutiae from Nintendo’s past. It’s starts with the selection of playable characters, which includes plenty of obvious choices like Mario, Link, Samus, Kirby, Fox McCloud, Luigi, and Pikachu. Pit from Kid Icarus also makes an appearance, and he’s a great new addition. Not every character is a great nostalgic fit, though. It’s sort of hard to get excited about Ness or Lucas, both from the Mother series that hasn’t been seen in the US since the SNES days. But Brawl takes things a step further than the standard Nintendoverse with the inclusion of Konami’s Solid Snake and Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog. They fit right into the fan-fiction-friendly nature of the game.
But the playable characters are just the beginning. Almost every background stage in the game comes from another game, ranging from the standard Mario- and Link-themed levels to areas ones based on WarioWare, Metal Gear, Sonic, Pokemon, and so on. Some areas are straightforward, while others have specific gimmicks to them. The PictoChat level is crazy, because new things are constantly being drawn onto the level, and you can jump around, avoid, or be damaged by most of them. The WarioWare stage occasionally breaks out into a little WarioWare-like microgame, which you must try to complete while still fighting. This just adds to the overall chaos and makes the whole thing even crazier.
Then there are assist characters, which are items you can grab and use in battle that unleash even more obscure characters from gaming’s past. Plus there are trophies and stickers to be found, many of which also reference a ton of semi-obscure Nintendo stuff, up to and including the instructor from Pilotwings. If you’ve played a lot of games over the years, you’ll really appreciate the game’s insane level of detail when it comes to reminding you of games you haven’t thought about in a very long time.
Aside from the standard fighting, Brawl also has an adventure mode, known as The Subspace Emissary, and this is where most of that nostalgic stuff comes alive. The gameplay here is a little funky in spots, because it tries to take the wild-and-loose action of the fighting and applying it to a side-scroller. That makes it frustrating in some spots. But it’s worth seeing because it’s full of crazy cutscenes that mash the different characters together in ways that rarely make sense. It’s pretty cool, seeing Pit, Link, Mario, Yoshi, and Kirby come together to fend off a shared threat. Meanwhile, the Pokemon Trainer (who they should have just named Ash) and Lucas are running around some ruins, all while nefarious guys like Wario, Bowser, and King Dedede are running around blazing fools with a beam cannon that turns living characters into figurines. On top of all that, R.O.B. the Robot pops up in a role that will shock and surprise you. OK, well, maybe it isn’t all that shocking, he’s just a robot, what does a robot know of good or evil? In lieu of finding a good group of people to play multiplayer with, this ended up being my favorite part of the entire game.
So the questions you need to ask yourself before deciding to invest in Super Smash Bros. Brawl concern your own personal level of love for Nintendo’s rich history and your ability to rustle up enough enthusiastic locals to get into the multiplayer. If both of those are in your favor, then this is definitely a game you’ll want to add to your collection. But if you aren’t big in either department, you probably won’t understand what all the fuss is about in the first place.
207 Comments
I have been playing this nonstop for the past few days and I love it. I actually was extremely excited for Lucas because they Dojo said he was stronger but lighter than Ness. This makes him a lot like the Ness from 64 which was awesome. If you like Nintendo and Fighting games then you have hit the motherload.
Spot on review. What I truly love about this game is that it’s something my girlfriend is willing to sit down and play with me and not feel too overwhelmed with the mechanics.
Only four stars. Gasp!
Jeff is the bravest reviewer out there. I look forward to seeing what the fanboys have to say
I hate to say it–considering all the love this title gets–but I’m a bit bumbed that there are not other titles to look forward to from Nintendo. This looks like an OK game, but the following this game has is ridiculous. I guess my Wii will continue to remain unplugged until something else comes out.
Jeff, great review. I can’t wait to see this site in its completed state. Keep it up, G.
You know, I was huge into this 6 weeks ago, but since then, my anticipation has cooled. Yeah, I’m going to get it, and I’m sure I’ll love it (just as I loved its predecessor, almost entirely as asolo experience), but it falls into the “I’ve played this game more or less before, so it can wait” category.
Fully the score I expected. Did not expect a review that uses the phrase “blazing fools.” A pleasant surprise.
Definitely an incredible game, the review is right on except in one area. Space Emesary was in my oppinion and incredibly boring mode, while it stuck true to the nintendo nastalgia it fell flat in over repetition, lack of creativity, and just waisting time which could of been spent adding more characters, more levels and voice chat… Oh and figuring out a way around those damn friend codes (thats a whole other discussion)
Overall,
Good job Jeff.
P.s. If you guys need help with marketing/pr work, thats what my degree is in. So feel free to email me. mw07806@students.salisbury.edu
Great review, I have been playing this game for a few days now and I must say that I share pretty much 100% the same views.
And Jeff…thank you for giving the best game reviews the web has to offer!
Nice post. Its good to see a review of the game by someone who isn’t an insane smash bros. fan. I thought the review was fair.
I think the rating is fine,nice balance between the truth and fanboy love
Keep up the good work guys
great review. I’m in the same boat as you, Jeff… I understand that it’s a great game for what it tries to be, and know how fun it can be with a bunch of friends. But I don’t have those types of friends, nor is it “my style” of game. I’d rather pick up an RPG, rhythm, FPS, etc.
Great review! For a series with so simplistic controls and such an incredibly basic premise it continues to have surprising depth. Things I’ve noted in my time with it :
1. The Subspace Emissary single player campaign is garbage populated with incredible cutscenes which make putting up with the monotonous gameplay actually worth the time.
2. Unlocking characters and stages is wonderfully, mercifully easy compared with previous SSB games. I had all characters and stages unlocked on my second day of playing, and that’s GOOD, as I don’t have the time to sit on my ass for weeks trying to unlock Jigglypuff.
3. The level construction tools are at first glance completely pointless, ungainly and convoluted…until you screw around with them for a few minutes. A friend and I were able to produce some ridiculously fun maps in a few minutes, and they are world’s better than the shitty little maps Nintendo included as examples. Here’s a great one - Make an enclosed box with a hole on the top and one on either side. Build off of that simple design, and you will have some amazing matches with ricochets that last for a long time.
4. Nintendo’s internet policies still suck ass. I find it amazing in this day and age the continue to perpetuate their friend code idiocy and limited connectivity standards. This isn’t 1994, big N. We’re not using 24.4k modems and posting pictures of naked ladies on BBS networks. As a major publisher you have a responsibility to provide your customers with what they want, and what they want is EASY and HASSLE FREE internet gaming!
I don’t expect them to listen.
Great review Jeff, thanks! It’s great that you’ve found a platform to voice your opinions on games again.
For myself and I, I’ll probably sit Brawl out. I don’t have gaming friends, they’re all too ‘mature’ for that kind of thing, and I never really understood the hype about these games anyway. So thanks for confirming me on that, Jeff!
The Subspace Emissary is a very painful and annoying things that I’m actually having to force myself to play. Not sure how it’s your favorite part of the game.
Awesome review, I think it got what it deserved. Maybe 4 1/2 stars, but I’m guessing you don’t do that type of rating. I guess I understand why it lost 1 star, mainly due to the fact it needs a group of local friends (friends come over to play at your house) for the game to truly shine. Keep up the good work!
At this point, I might want to finally get a Wii for this. I live in a college dorm, so this would be perfect for the kind of multi-player madness you’re talking about. We’ve already got the perfect combination of beer and Smash Bros. Melee figured out, so this one shouldn’t be too hard to work out.
great review, im a feared for my life from the fanboy reaction but its a very solid review. Keep GOING!
good review, Smash bros has never been my kind of game…
Fair enough.
8.8
Good review. I like your new 5 star system. It’s more like a movie review system which is fine by me. I’d like to see some more reviews — specifically Condemned 2 and House of the Dead 2/3 Return for the Wii. Let me guess… Condemned 2 will get 4 stars and House of the Dead will get 3 stars. I guess that’s the failure of the 5 star system. Ratings are too easy to predict. Maybe you guys should just write reviews and include no point scale, forcing the reader to… read! That would rock. Take it easy…
Datel just released the Freeloader for Wii, which allows us PAL people to play import games. Guess what game i just ordered?
On a different note, how the hell was this ever supposed to be a launch game? Surely they must have known that it will take over a year after the Wii launch to make this game as stuffed as it is. Really, Nintendo, what’s with the lies and deception?
This is a fantastic review, a fair look at the game without the unbalanced hype that permeates most other reviews of the title. I’ve played it for a little bit over the last few days and I couldn’t agree with you more. I know exactly two other guys who are into Smash Bros. which is just about the minimum for getting a decent experience out of it.
And yes the cutscenes in the single player are crazy. I thought they could use a little more “incidental Nintendo Character Noise” dialogue, but other than that they are hilarious.
I have quite a few friends that are into this tournament-style. I just need to play it with them while they are still figuring it out, otherwise I’m going to get destroyed.
i NEED to play this game
Good review. How about some video reviews. I can imagine how funny they could be.
I’m the first nerd to point out that Mother was last seen as Earthbound for the SNES, not the NES?
Not a fan really but i play it if it was in front of me and probably have a good time. DO you guys think at some point you’ll be doing video reviews?
I think this was an excellent game, but for me, didn’t live up to the hype. It’s nice they introduced all the new characters (and very few are clones), but the core gameplay stayed exactly the same.
I’d give it a 4.75 (9.5). I really believe anything under 9 isn’t enough for this game.
You took what I think of the game. And then put it online for me. Great review.
Frankly, I think the review was off. You didn’t mention the stage editor at all, or the online mode much. It should have got 5/5 personally..but, what can I do?
Nice review Jeff.
Damn online finally works… To those missing the voice chat real bad: if you have both a 360 yourself and a friend with a 360, why not just turn on LIVE voice chat and just switch back to your Wii? I know it’s a pretty ghetto ass solution but I’ve been doing it for a couple days and it works pretty well.
Terrible review, Girthman.
I’m liking the new review style. Really personal and laid-back. Eating a pizza in between gameplay sessions is a great idea.
Great review Jeff. A four star rating is very justifiable. It’s not a five star game (Super Mario Galaxy) and it’s for sure not just an average three star game. I think anyone can agree with this review… even a Nintendo fanboy like myself. Good job and keep the reviews coming.
I feel the same way but when I had four of my friends over and its been very very fun
Oh god my attention span is so f-ing small I can’t read all this tuff make more videos of you guys doin stuff that’s at least a little action oriented and sometimes sorta funny.
Good review, this is probably the game I will pick up next when I get around to buying a new game. It’s too bad everyone around you doesn’t much care for the series. Personally I don’t understand the tournament scene and the people who are really crazy about the game but that doesn’t make the game bad just because crazy fan boys love it. It seems like a lot of games are disliked simply because of the sort of people that like them. I know that might be a bit of an exaggeration but I know people who won’t play games not because they don’t think they are fun but because of the kind of people who like those games. I’m not saying the people you know are like that but there are plenty of people who are.
Hey Jeff! I just wanted to say that this review is a great example of why I respect you so much as a reviewer. From listening to your opinion on this game in the podcast, it’s clear that you’re not a super-crazy fan of Smash Bros. Yet when it comes time to do the review you do a great job of reviewing it objectively and making it clear who will and won’t enjoy this game. Great job and keep up the good work!
This review is full of fail.
Great review. It reflects my own perception of the game.
This review is epic…or even better…it’s GIANT!!!…and after reading it…I can’t help but say it was the BOMB!…hmmm, now I see where you got the name from…well played Jeff, well played indeed!
“NipTuck” be positive or get the f*** out of this site and never come back again. We don’t want the likes of you who fail to realize that reviews are opinions and everyone is entitled to his own opinion. It’s ok to disagree with a review but you must express your views in a way that shows respect to other people’s views.
ill play it as soon as it comes out in the uk XD
WOW! I am speechless. That’s a really cool review. It’s really weird to see that there’s just four stars on the rating, i thought it’d be better. I’m really looking forward for Ryan’s Condemned Review, in case there is one :).
GREAT REVIEW. GREAT PAGE. Great Ass Kicking.
Alex I totally agree, people like that asshole are fucking moronic. It’s fine to disagree with Jeff’s fine review but there’s no need to be a penis about it.
It’s always interesting to see what Jeff has to say about the latest big Nintendo release, hehe. Interesting perspective, and I’ve been surprised more reviewers haven’t reported similar feelings.
OMG! Y U GIVE SSBM 4? I CALL EIDOS AND HAS YOU FIRED FROM SITE NAO!
Seriously though, I’m so sick of this game I’d rather go punch every single person in my local retirement home than hear more about it.
5.5 - Mediocre.
good review.
best review i have seen on this game
“NipTuck”, this review was spot on. I love me some good Nintendo games. My girlfriend and I play pretty much every game Nintendo releases for that matter. Call me a fan of Nintendo or a fanboy but it is what it is.
With that said, this game by any means, is not as good as some people make it out to be. If you love it great, but it’s not for everyone. For some people it will be the king shit of turd island. For some it will be a decent game they pick up and play from time to time. Some won’t even bother giving it the time of day. Either way, I think Jeff did a good job of differentiating who would enjoy this game and would wouldn’t. You seemed to have missed that. I hope you realize that is what a review is for…
Make love, not war.
Good review. I’m glad you gave your honest review unlike gamespot. I’ve played the game for about 5 hours and find that it was only fun if you play with friends. The single player experience isn’t all that enjoyable since you never get sucked into the Subspace Emissary’s mode. Hope you fan boys cry to your mommy’s.
Is this all we have to look forward to from Nintendo?
Reviewing Smash Bros’ multiplayer based on online is like reviewing Halo 3’s multiplayer based on LAN. It’s ac completely different experience. Halo 3 has a good single player, but that’s not what makes it great, same ideas here.
Fair enough. Smash Bros is a good game, lets leave it at that.
I love your writing
And the cockbags that dis your reviews are people who are only allowed to play Nintendo games, suffering from not being able to play real games on the PS3 and 360
Fantastic work, and I look forward to the sites final look this june
Garrett that eidos joke was low, lol
I couldn’t have said it better myself. Seriously, I couldn’t..which is why you’re pro? On a side note, I love the way you did the screenshots popping up like that, I don’t have to disable my popup blocker just to see them. Nice work, can’t wait until the site is all set up and at full speed.
You got it right…The online component deserves a star taken off. Awesome job. (no sarcasim.)
Exactly what it deserves.
Good review. The funny thing is that I haven’t followed this game at all and it was exactly what I thought it was. I had Melee and if I want to play SSB I will just play that.
I knew you would be the right person to review this game, Jeff. You are actually critical of Nintendo’s non-eagerness to change the formula in their games. I see eye to eye with you.
Unrelated note. The Red Drive Gatorade Tiger ain’t that great I’m sorry to say, I like the blue one. As for Davis, lookin foward to that Condemned review.
Dude, you neglected to mention that you can unlock the ability to play the lousy NES version of Donkey Kong for thirty seconds! That’s got to be worth something!
Yeah, the Eidos thing might have been low, but fanboys will go to any extent.
And on a side note; now that you guys have the site running, you need to get some people to edit the site and program it (we need a damn edit function), and you need to get some sort of forum or something to get this site rolling. Don’t let there be mods though.
Yeah, I’m like you Jeff. I don’t have any friends that like this game. I didn’t really get into the first one. Maybe I’ll rent it but I don’t see myself buying Brawl.
I wouldn’t want to play Smash Bros alone. It’s real fun to bust out the game and have some beers. Really, I wouldn’t want to play it any other way.
Enough with Eidos.. Jeff gave a brutal, truthful review to a pretty much horrible game. He got the message out that the game was nothing but an attempt to take money from the consumers. Jeff is the most reputable source of editorials on pretty much all things gaming. SSBB got a good review, and it was very truthful. It was well written, and it was an honest opinion. Most gaming sites have someone who is a fan of all things Super Smash giving biased reviews. 4/5 goes to show you it is a very good game, and does live up to most of its hype, but it was not perfect. Keep it up Jeff. Thanks to you.. I am about to try my first Gatoraid T(ligtning strike)ger!.. Red Drive. If its good, maybe I will take a run to Costco before I go back to School after break.
well my cousin was pver with his wii for the past couple days i played it aLOT.
the game takes no skill, ssb on n64 did, but whilst playing with my cousin he randomly smacks a smash ball in the air only to kill me with some of the cheapest moves ever conceived. i turned off all items and put it on the flat land scape i owned him bad, but others may like this game, personally i was not to fond of the game, the sub-space emersarry is stupid, too easy, repedative and how come around 68-78% i was warping through the game randomlyi would be in a jungle thing, then that big thing that blows up, then i was battling the metal dragon escaping an explosion, then a ice place then back to the ship that blew up and then back to the dragon thing
wii just isn’t for me in general i dispise the lack of hd and all the poor motion sensing, also i can’t get over the graphics brawl looks like melle
Shouldn’t they be bombs instead of stars?
i did have fun though but i wentback to playing ssb1 on my pc with a 360controller
Solid review, Jeff. Are you guys on doing video reviews eventually? Because video features are totally where it’s at.
*Are you guys planning on doing video reviews eventually?
“But if you aren’t big in either department, you probably won’t understand what all the fuss is about in the first place.”
Then why would you even have a wii at all?
If you have a wii, you need this game. Case Closed. I mean really…you own a nintendo console and dont get the most anticipated and nintendo-ey game on it? I dont care if you dont like mario, you got a wii and your going to get this game.
I dont have a wii, but if I did, I would have this game even though I wasnt a huge fan of the previous ones.
Well yea I unfortunately need to wait a little longer to be able to play it
which really depresses me. I’ve been waiting for a long long time for this game. And now seeing all these ppl play it already. It’s just not fair… damn the translations!
This is better than Gamespot’s review, for sure.
I agree with about 85% of everything here, which is a lot higher than the other reviews I have read.
We all are “in-the-know” for Smash, so multiplayer is not a problem and a lot of fun.
@ZmillA My Mom wants a Wii, my Mom also wouldn’t really understand whats so great about SSBB. I have a feeling that a lot of people fall in to that category, given how much the Wii has sold.
I do however, and sadly don’t even own a Wii. This weekend I’m going to a friends house where most everyone I know will be there, playing Brawl, eating pizza, and getting rowdy.
Excellent review, nice to see some honesty in a review and not an immediate 5 out of 5 stars. Keep up the good work!
I enjoyed reading a non biased review.
Also, I finally figured out the avatar thing. haha
what the hell is wrong with a 4 star review. To me it means its a buy if I was interested in the game at all. Maybe it didn’t live up to the daily dojo drip of hype that led up to it, and maybe in a slightly different situation Jeff could have had a 5 star experience with it, but really at what point do we realize that everything isn’t so binary with reviews its not just a 1 or 10 but somewhere in between.
Oh and on an entertaining note the current user vote on gamerankings for this game is ‘8.8′ I’m sure it will change but it was at least entertaining for me as I just checked it out.
I dont think they can go much further with SSB… I think for the next version (which will most likely come out in the 4th gen console :/), nintendo will have to find other alternatives or methods that made SSB “unique”.
Great review … can’t wait to play this when it’s released here in Europe, whenever that is.
Can we get the option of reading the review black on white? I’m having a hard time reading the text against a black background.
Nice review
I’ve almost put 40 hours into the game. I love it.
This game is great because it actually gets my boyfriend playing video games with me! (/sarcasm)
But seriously, nice review. As a total Smash freak, I’m definitely not disappointed in any way by Brawl, but upon finally playing it I had a different feeling than I expected. It was more of a sigh of content than a nerdgasm of joy–I suppose because of the months and months of hype–the game is just as amazing as expected, but no more (which is still pretty damn amazing).
I’m having a blast with it so far, but the real fun will begin when my regular Melee crew all get home from college this summer!
Great review Jeff. Definitely lookin’ forward to more!
My brother and I enjoy taking the game for a spin now and again, but yeah, without someone to play with you might drop it after finishing the sub-space emissary single-player campaign, which took me about 7 hours on the Hard difficulty.
There’s so many unlockables in this game…
A fanboy raid has left their base.
Intel says the fanboys are headed for Giant Bomb territory.
Anyone who gets that Sins of a Solar Empire reference gets a cookie.
Didn’t really make any real effort to get this game Sunday was already at target getting some stuff and checked to see if they had it they were sold out, didn’t try looking anywhere else but after reading the review I’m gonna have to get SSBB soon.
That’s why I love you Jeff.
These are the types of things that are going to make this website so exciting…
This review was a very well boiced and opinionated writing. While some may not agree w/ Jeffs point of view or rating of the game, he distinctly acknowledges who would like this game, and who wouldn’t. Like every other game critic, Jeff has certain opinions about what he likes in a game, and what he does not, and he voices these opinions very clearly. Now that may not sound like anything special; however, many other game sites (ign) seem to not be able to pull off that important balance between objectional opinion and overall recomendations to other people. Many other game critics reviews are so clouded by personal opinion that it fogs the only thing that matters: WHO SHOULD PLAY THIS GAME? The question really isn’t “Did I like it?” its “Will you like it?” in other words “what certain crowd of people would like this game?” and Jeff and Ryan answer this question perfectly in their reviews. (While I may not particularly agree w/ Jeffs point of view on the online, this is still the best SSBB review I’ve read!)
voiced*
Good read. It’s also describes exactly why I haven’t purchased the game and why I won’t for quite some time - I already own Melee, res is long over and I have no immediately accessible group of Smash Bros fans. I also have no desire to play online with a service as sterile as Nintendo’s.
Great review Jeff,
I think you’re spot on. Being completely fresh to the Smash Brothers series(aside from occasional matches here and there on previous versions), this game feels like a great new experience to me. I hear from veteran players that it’s a lot of the same - and that may have lessened my enjoyment of it if that were my case.
I also happen to fall into the “mid 20’s human being who grew up with a grey box for a babysitter”, so the fan service in this game is like a window directly to my childhood, and a nice substitute for the massive amounts of counseling one might require after practically being raised by Mario, Peach, and the gang.
I think there’s a lot of appeal for me in the achievement-like unlocking system as well. That grid will keep me glued to the game for a long time to come.
If anyone is looking to trade friend codes, check out http://www.nintendogamersonline.com
Yo I’ve never liked any of the game in this series and I grew up in the nes era. I watched movies like the wizard and went freaking nuts, when they announced super mario 3. I also wished I could be as cool as that guy with the power glove. Only thing missing from that movie was Rob the Robot. Anyway the review sounds totally fair. This is definetely not my type of game. The Wii honeymoon was over quick for me.
I think this site would be great, sort of like kotaku if this summer the master site doesnt work out.
I actually really like the online, despite the lack of dudes to yell at while playing. I’m right at the midpoint of skill where I can win a lot of matches, but still come across people who are way better than me, and I can try to learn something from how they play. As soon as I get the hang of blocking and dodging, I’ll really have something.
I’m kind of curious–which character is your favorite so far? I’ve shuffled between a lot of the new ones, but I think I’ve narrowed it down to Dedede, Sonic, and Olimar.
fox pwns all!!!!!
You know, I’ve been a rather die-hard Smash Bros since its early days (we used to play it at school in Grade 7, it was a blast), and as such , consider myself on the more competitive end of the Smash Bros scale.
And yet, I find myself compelled to agree completely with your review. Smash Bros is not a game meant to be over analyzed. It’s not a game where your meant to memorize jump times, attack priorities, animation lag and hitboxes. It’s just supposed to be a fun, raring good time, and perhaps most importantly, a celebration of games, where characters and moments from any game can make an appearance.
Back in the day, when we used to play original Smash Bros, that’s really what it was all about: Having fun, messing around, screaming loudly and having raving about it while we eat our birthday cake.
And for people who have played as many games as us, its going to be impossible to fully regain such an attitude. We play to win now, and thats the way it is. We just cannot accept random BS that we can’t control.
It is for this reason that the old magic of Smash Bros is lost upon you and your chums. I know that’s the case for myself; I play it more like Soul Calibur and Streetfighter more that anything else.
I guess there’s been a generational divide in terms of games, like the same way that jeff loves street fighter 2 or some other people might like some old snes games in terms of remembering their young days, I am only like 15 but still I can enjoy playing games that remind me of how I used to play super smash, mario brothers, starfox, or mariokart on the 64. So really jeff, you just gave super smash bros a 4, that’s fine I understand what with the bad online and maybe not having appeal with older gamers, but this game is fun, and it’s something you can really get involved in. You discuss with your friends, you know, how the different characters play and how your favorite one can kick the others ass. It has a real great feel to it that is hardcore yet easily approachable to somebody who has played some type of game for more than 10 hours, and I really think that it works well and comes together in a sort of prismatic awe inspiring experience as long as you give it a chance. So jeff what you should’ve said is if you like old school fighting games this will make you sick, but if you don’t much care, or if you’re a n64 fanboy,(me :-D), than this game is amazing and fully deserving of a 5 out of 5.
Stop with your old person bias jeff why the hell you so excited for street fighter and love res so much if you think sequels to really old games are so bad you have to understand why people love this game, and just because you and your nes fanboys don’t care for it doesn’t mean the rest of the gaming market should have to hear you all say “oh it’s not as good as street fighter 2″ well of course not! It’s better in its own fun way, and frankly street fighter was freakin’ stupid looking since the begining, I don’t understand why people liked that game so much how’s that gerstmann!!
So as I understand it, what they’re saying about the game is that it’s good (in fact, it’s damn good), but it is not the best the genre has to offer, hence four stars?
Also, I’m pretty amazed that TEH NINTODOENDO D00Dzzz bother to check this website. If you’re so butthurt about his opinion, stop looking for it.
Jeff, I really wonder what score you’d give Mario Galaxy. Honestly, I was very disappointed by it and quite surprised when Alex gave it a 9.5. The game really let me down and I personally felt it wasn’t all that impressive. I don’t think it was a bad game by any means, but I’d say it’s easily the worst of the 3D Mario games, and I imagine I’d have given it like an 8.0, which isn’t bad but definitely not what I’d consider to be a game worthy of holding the 2nd highest rating of all time (at gamerankings). I felt it was often frustrating (not really because of the difficulty, but the fact that the game wouldn’t allow you to adjust the camera about 90% of the time), and also I never really found it to be much fun. I know you declared COD4 as your pick of GOTY for 2007 and I curently agree (however I personally still have a lot of big games from 2007 I need to play, so my answer might change). Wow… talk about rambling on… Okay, okay, I’ll stop. Haha. Good to see you still writing reviews, dude.
Wow, Jeff. gizmondo-won just TOTALLY GOT YOU! There’s nothing you can possibly do now. I guess you’ll just have to retire from game criticism and live a quiet lonely life in shame. How dare you?! You have old person bias!!
hahaha, great review though. You totally called it. I like the game a lot, but it certainly doesn’t reinvent the wheel. I love that four stars has to automatically translate to the reviewer not liking the game. God forbid we have differences in opinion among us.
If you could have somehow had that 5 hour pizza party, you would have given this a 5. No biggie though…
Also, the random on-line mode sucks, BUT….w/ friends its a lot of fun. The text chat is actually really amusing! At first it sounds like a queer idea, but you can pre program 4 “taunts” in as vulgar as you want them. Doing the taunt at the right moment is priceless…Nothing better than a Picachu chanting “Die Biatch!!” as Link goes flying off the screen.
Some of these comments are ridiculous, and they make we wish this site would stay forum-less. A couple of things:
-To those saying the score is too low, a 4 out of 5 is not a bad score and is still a strong recommendation, especially in the context of this game, reviewer and website. To those Smash Brothers fans out there, just make believe that he said “add a star if you’re a Nintendo fan”.
-To those saying the score is accurate (in the sense that other reviewers are somehow incorrect in reviewing it higher) just because Jeff gave it a 4 out of 5 does not automatically make his review unbiased. Opinions, especially in reviewing games, are bias in their natural state. Bias is not only natural, but healthy in moderation. It is important to understand how someone of different tastes would preceive the game, which Jeff has successfully done.
The real question about R.O.B. is… how do you kill a man without a heart? Oh wait, not quite the same robot.
I’m glad to see a critic give this game a fair score. A lot of other reviewers don’t seem to capture the idea that this is a game that almost deserves two ratings; one for the crazed Smash Bros. fan and one for, well…. everyone else. It can definitely be a very niche game for a niche audience and it’s nice to see a review that reflects that.
I played it for the first time last night with several friends. Yes, we were VERY enthusiastic and loud. I agree with review completely. The game would be a total drag without really excited people to play it with.
good review
Is that sum Kane and Lynch
this is not gamespot
from gamespot to …. here
wow
A Jeff Gerstmann Review. The best reviewer in the business! Keep on the good work guys!
p.s - when the forums are up, can you please ban the fanboys from them?
Thanks.
Tiptop Review, I am going to get it when it come out over here in the UK.
This, essentially, is how I feel about all the Smash Bros. games. They are fun, and have the potential to be wonderful party games, but they’re not all-around packages. Not that they need to be, really. That’d be like asking for “300″ to be a metaphorical dissertation on the human spirit.
Bottom line: Good Review.
Great review. You’ve pretty much hit the nail on the head about the online multiplayer. I’ve been saying that since online functionality was just a hopefull rumour - and I kept getting bashed by hardcore fans of the series. I suppose I could be called a hardcore fan of the series myself, but I am a sensible one, not one that wants everything possibly imaginable in the game.
I think I fall in the latter category of people who don’t know what the fuss is about. Although I definitely do see the potential of some insane group fun that can be had with this game, and the nice sense of nostalgia for those who are rich with knowledge of Nintendo’s characters. I am not one of those people, nor am I someone who actually knows many people that share my interests. So for me the only real reason to buy this game would be the single player campaign, and that’s just not reason enough.
Great review Jeff. Two thumbs up!
First and the most important point I would like to talk about is;
“The boss” you sir, are made of aids and fail GTFO!
Secondly, great review Jeff! I’m really looking forward to this once we get a release over the pond here in the UK.
Keep up the great work on the blog, can’t wait for the full sites release!
Not interested in Super Smash. I bought the Wii for Zelda and Mario Galaxy. I think I’m done with it now, at least until something worthy comes out…
Awesome review. Thats how I’m feeling about the game. I have a group of friends who are stoked about this game. Me, on the other hand, just can’t get into it. I’m not too big into Nintendo’s history, but I will say I loved the codec moments with Snake.
I think Brawl is a 5 stars game. All critics think so since the avergae score in a scale from 0 to 10 is 9.5. The game might not feel nostalgic but that probably was never the point. Anyways this is another point of view (though I think it’s great in singleplayer and in Multyplayer, the SubSpace emissary is Great).
Personally, I think that its what I thought. Its smash bros and just more of it. I think its an amazing game, but nothing really has been done to improve, balance or whatever else…there is just more thrown in upon Melee which isnt a bad thing.
It was the same thing with Halo3 except they did just a little more to make multiplayer better, they did improve the story and ending from 2 and finally, FORGE!
love the 4 stars. can’t belive your not getting more hate mail for this.
I said before and say it again. Fun game but it is not the MOna Lisa of videgames. Good review indeed Jeff.
Just curious, can you do half a star? Because 5 stars suck if you can’t do half.
Anyway, good review
I’m lovi