First of all, happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone!
-
It’s finally here! The planets have aligned and brought us peace and harmony on earth. Okay, well maybe I’m being a bit too dramatic, but my joy for the arrival of Super Smash Brothers Brawl is hard to contain. It really is everything we’ve all been waiting for. For the uncultured of you out there, Smash is a game (perhaps THE game) where players can take their favorite cute and fluffy Nintendo characters and beat the living snot out of each other for fun and profit. It has been heralded as one of the best tournament games ever made, and between its three incarnations it has most likely sucked away a large portion of many gamer’s lives.
The real question on everyone’s minds is how does Brawl stack up to Melee. The answer sort of depends on the player. The first question I must ask is, “Do you know what a wave dash is, and how often did you use it?” The second is “Are you comfortable learning new things?” Brawl changes the game quite a bit. The glitch known as Wave Dashing (a complicated series of moves that sent the player sliding wildly across the stage allowing them to avoid the cool down time on most abilities) is a thing of the past. The new characters (including names such as Wario, King Dedede, Solid Snake, and Sonic the Hedgehog) have styles of play very different from Melee. Even some of the classic characters have had their game changed quite a bit, some becoming far less effective while others becoming minor gods (all glory to our overlord Marth).
The real kick in the pants for this game is the online play. For those of us with friends spread all over the country, the idea of online play was a wonderful addition. So far the actual experience of this has been broken and frustrating. Games (if you can find one) take a very long time to actually begin, and often are hindered by sever lag. This is without mentioning the shockingly foolish friend codes which just seem to be punishing us for the crime of having friends. Why Nintendo can’t get their act together in the online gaming market is beyond me, but it really hurts the overall enjoyment of Smash.
The bottom line is that, despite the online problems (which in reality will probably be fixed), this is the game that will reside in that shiny blue glowing slot in your Wii for some time. There is nothing that will come out in the next year that can top this one. So go dig up your old Gamecube controllers (or pick up some classic controllers) and pick this title up for some 4 player havoc and a general good time.
Oh, and my friend code is: 0817 3444 0313
Feel free to leave yours in comments for so me Pocket Change smash action.
Kris
