Like it’s predecessors, Super Smash Bros. Brawl is an all out 4-player brawler that allows you to use your favorite Nintendo characters and duke it out. The goal is to rack up as much percentage damage in order to KO your opponent outside of the screen. Fairly simple enough and yet provides enough depth for the hardest of the hardcore to get their fix as well.

Many new characters join the Brawl making the complete roster into a impressive 35 playable characters (actually 39 due to Zelda/Shiek, Pokemon Trainer and Zero Suit Samus) With the many characters also comes the many stages. Locations based on various games such as Pikmin, KidIcarus and Super Mario Sunshine are featured and old favorites from Melee makea return. (Stages like Corneria and Big Blue)

While the game is mainly known for it’s 4-player game play,Super Smash Bros Brawl introduces the all-new Subspace Emissary mode. This newstory mode allows you to play as Nintendo’s famous characters in a newstoryline that revolves around the antagonist, The Ancient Minister.

Now, I felt that this mode was one of the weaker parts of the game. Even though I enjoyed the improved single player from Melee’s game,the action felt a bit dull and controls sometime felt a bit clunky. While Brawl’s game play mechanics do sometimes fit in with the single player game, some rather inconsistent platforming broke the pace of the game and allow for somecheap deaths. Also, many of the enemies felt a bit over powered and cheap making the already cheap deaths from platforming even cheaper. Nevertheless,the mode was a nice distraction and a great way to earn characters. Plus, withthe huge amount of gorgeous movies in the game, one can’t really complain much.

Aside from the SSE, other modes accompany the single playergame as well. Classic mode is there, Event Matches make a return as well as the All Star Mode. Break the Targets, Home Run Contest and the ever-so-time-consuming Multi Man Melee is included in the game.

There is even a Boss Rush mode that allows you to tackle the 10 bosses from the SSE.

But of course, there is so much more than the single playergame to look into. Considering that the Super Smash Bros. series is known forit’s multiplayer gameplay, the main focus is still it’s 4 player fights.Options can be tweaked all around with time matches or stock matches. This,along with the Special Brawl mode that allows for practically endless options makes Brawl the best “hardcore” multiplayer offering the Wii can offer.

Visual wise, it is pretty good. The game manages to containa steady 60 frames throughout the whole game. While this isn’t the best looking game for the Wii, it certainly is one of the best. With the many things occurringall at once during the game, you can easily excuse what you see in graphics.

A first in the Super Smash Bros series, the game allows for online fights via the Nintendo Wi-Fi connection. As always with Nintendo’sservice, in order for you to get the most out of the game is to get your friend code as well as your friend’s friend code. Once you trade your digits, the fighting is as robust as local multiplayer play. Tweaking how long fights last, how many lives, what items and what not is included. Sadly, the lack of no real communication, except for 4 text messages from the use of taunting, limits the online component. Plus, no real online leaderboard is implemented in the game,which brings up the issue of fighting against anyone. This mode is limited to only 2 minute fights and in a Team Battle, your are randomly selected who you will fight along side with. Again, no real communication hurts the experience. There were also times of lag whenplaying online. Some fights I managed to play without any lag while otherspicked up unbearable amounts of lag. I am not sure why this is either, I play against friends who don’t even live far.

One thing that Brawl absolutely excels in is its plethora ofunlockables and other “distractions”

First off, trophies are represented in full force here andprovide much lasting appeal to those looking for a challenge. You can also hit up the Coin Launcher, a nice little shmup that will help you get the many trophies in the game. Speaking of a challenge, this is how you will be unlocking various things. You are given a task such as “Play 50 hours of Brawls”and when you accomplish it, you get your reward. It’s simple, but there arevery demanding challenges such as beating Bosh Rush mode on Intense difficulty.

Stickers also serve as a distraction in the game. Although stickers are used as a RPG like quality for the SSE, (used to boost up statsand stuff) I never used them. Instead, I treated them like Trophies that givesme even more added replay value. Music is another thing that is used as unlockables. Again, the Challenges give you a task and you must complete in order to receive the CDs. These CDs act as the music tracks of the game andwith 200+ music tracks in the game, people have a long way to go before they unlock everything. It also worth noting that the music in the game is beautiful. Lots of orchestral stuff and many retro like tracks are all included in the game.

Various other options are available in Brawl. There is the Stage Creator that, obviously, allows you to make your own stage. Although it’s a bit limited, it is very easy and fun to use. You are able to share these online as well. You can save many great fights (that are 3 minutes or less) using the Replay function and again, these can also be shared with online.

There is a hell of a lot more to be covered, but I don’t think that much else is need to be said due to the fact that pretty much every Wii owner owns the game already. Aside from a few annoyances (damn you tripping!) Super Smash Bros. Brawl is the real deal. While I strongly believe it isn’t the best game on the Wii (Super Mario Galaxy deserves that honor) it definitely is one of the most polished games ever to be made. Full of practically unlimited replay value, I see myself coming back to this game for many, many years to come.

BottomLine: 9.5/10