NINTENDO'S MOST OVERRATED FRANCHISE
I first played Super Smash Bros on the N64 in college with some roommates, and it kept my interest for all of about an hour. When Melee came out for the Gamecube, I could not figure out why it was so popular (one of the, if not THE best selling titles for that system) and really didn't care to find out for myself. There has been such a interest in Brawl since it was announced, that I knew I had to try it out eventually. In a nutshell, my thought is it's Smash Bros. on the Wii, no more and no less.
Previously the core of Smash Bros. is to pay homage to a bunch of Nintendo characters, with simple controls, and completely chaotic action. It's supposed to be the ultimate fighting game for Nintendo fans, and to some it is just that, but it had several issues: overly simple controls, random game mechanics that often rewarded the more unskilled players, and limited variety. Depending on your point of view, Brawl either improves on these flaws or makes them even worse. For example, there so many different controller options (Gamecube controller, Wii Remote and Nunchuk, Wii Remote only, and Classic Controller) and controller configuration options, that the game never really feels like there is an optimal method to set the controls. You end up with them all feeling decent, some better than others, but nothing really stands out as the best way to play Brawl (I didn't use a Gamecube controller, and this tends to be the preferred method, so this might be the exception). The bigger problem is that there really isn't a reason to figure out how to set the controls because the gameplay is really not very interesting. Each character (and there is a huge number with tons on unlockable characters) has the following moves: jump, block, attack, special, smash, and throw. Variants of the attack and special moves are created by holding the analog stick in different directions as you press the respective button. There is a bit more than initially meets the eye to this, but it gets very old quickly nonetheless. The final issue with the original was the lack of variety, and Brawl adds some game elements (tons of characters, "stages", a campaign mode, and even a stage builder) but none of them are very interesting.
The campaign mode in particular (called the "Subspace Emissary") is actually painful from the get go. It's meant to be a good way to add another aspect to Brawl and unlock characters as you go, but it is really just an overly basic platformer with standard Smash Bros. controls, and it just doesn't work. I managed to play it for about 6 hours total over the course of a full week and never want to play it again. There are countless numbers of better platforming games out there, even on the NES.
Better than the campaign mode is the single player "Classic" option, but even with additional characters and stages you feel like you've pretty much done it all within a couple hours. You fight different enemies on different stages, and the goal is still to hit your opponent to make it easier to knock them off the stage (no stamina meters in Brawl, just a percentage meter that gets bigger as you take damage indicating a greater likelihood for you to fall of the stage).
Perhaps the most anticipated feature of Brawl is it's online multiplayer via Wi-Fi connection. I tried this several times, and it never worked once for me. I sat there trying to register opponents for over 10 minutes each time and it always came back with an error.
All of this further emphasizes that Brawl is another Smash Bros. game, and it's really all about playing with 3 other friends on the same system. Even this has a problem because I don't know of anyone over the age of 12 who actually wants to make time to play this with 3 friends. Smash Bros. is it's own genre: party-fighter. Play the game and you'll understand why it is the only one of it's kind. Unless you absolutely loved the other two Smash Bros. games, I wouldn't advise playing this. There are much better fighters around, and much better party games.
