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"Smash Bros. Brawl" is a guaranteed success. Its predecessor was one of the biggest selling titles for Nintendo's Gamecube, and as sales data pours in from across the globe, it's becoming more apparent that the company has another hit on its hands.
Essentially a 2-D platformer mixed with a fighting game, "Brawl" is another in a longstanding (if sparsely populated) line of venerated entries into the "Super Smash Brothers" series. Bringing together characters from every Nintendo series imaginable, "Brawl" pits them against one another in a veritable battle royale.
Unlike standard fighting games, "Brawl" involves smashing one another with attacks that raise your rivals' damage percentages. When the numbers get high enough, anywhere from 60 to around 300 percent, a good whack will send your rivals flying off-screen.
The game's biggest draw is the roster. Rivals Mario and Sonic can square off in epic battles alongside legends like Solid Snake from the "Metal Gear" series, and "The Legend of Zelda's" Link. Sonic and Snake are both copyrighted property of non-Nintendo companies, a testament to how big "Brawl" really is.
Items, one of the mainstays of Smash Bros., return with appropriate aplomb and variety. Bob-bombs drop at crucial moments, sending one, or four, players flying off-screen with grins all around. Final Smashes, powerful individual attacks that must be fought over as they float around in little spheres through a stage, lend a good change of pace to the proceedings.
Still, the excellence of "Brawl" is tempered greatly by terrible online infrastructure. The game is Nintendo's first true online effort for a Wii game. The obtuse friend-code system, 16-digit serial codes that must be exchanged to play specific friends online, falls far short of the true accessibility preached by the new Nintendo.
While random matches are available, they also tend to prove particularly nettlesome, with intense, choppy lag popping up frequently, and players often getting booted back out to the game's main menu when connections fail.
Still, these shortcomings are not developer Sakurai and co.'s fault. The blame lies squarely with Nintendo. The game itself is brilliant and worth the wait for those who have been smashing since the days of its N64 grandfather - as well as newcomers looking for a bit of fun.
Shallow, deep, it's all here. And it's - almost - all good.
- Hudson Lockett
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