Review: Super Smash Bros. Brawl

(Possible minor spoilers)
Platform: Wii
Genre: Fighting

Storyline: 7/10
Story mode had some amazing plot twists (I won’t say what they are), and that’s unusual in fighting games, but that’s not its best feature

Game play: 10/10
THE most amazing game play you’ll ever find anywhere. I remember when I first played Smash Bros., I thought the game play was primitive, and needed a lot of work (I was used to Street Fighter) since there were no “down-to-forward-punch” combos. I was totally wrong. It was amazing after I moved past my first impressions. I realized that it was just about perfect. With Melee, it grew even perfecter (don’t use that one at school kids), but it was missing a little something. It has pretty much been perfected in Brawl.

Play-back/ Multi-player: 10/10
Anybody can see this. Melee was the same way, only on a lower level. Now, with Wi-fi connectability, I’m pretty sure you can play forever.

Graphics: 9/10
When you’re playing this game you’re not going “Oh, that looked fakey.” Or, “Who did the special effects on this game?” Or even, “… Wow…” It may not be the perfect pictures of the X-Box 360 or PS3, but you don’t notice any major flaws, so you aren’t distracted while you’re playing. That’s the way it’s supposed to be.

Characters: 10/10
I have to point out a few of the highs and lows of this part:

Mario: What’s a Nintendo game without Mario, Link, D.K. and the rest?

Lucas: I’m not an Earthbound or Mother fan, so I was a little skeptical about this one. But it turns out, I didn’t need to worry. He became an instant favorite.

Sonic: People have wanted a Sonic/Mario fight for a LOOOOOONG time. S+M at the Olympic Games didn’t satisfy that need for a lot of people. They didn’t want a friendly running race, they wanted actual fighting. Thank goodness we don’t have to wait any longer.

R.O.B: …Ok, he’s just amazing. I was thinking he was going to be this slow, jerky robot that I’d play with a few times here and there. Nuh-uh. I instantly accepted him once I played with him once. He’s not even all that slow.

Olimar: When I first saw the update with Olimar, I was a little disappointed in Nintendo. I didn’t really enjoy the Pikmin games (I’m the kind of guy who likes to take his time). I’m sure a lot of people were happy, though. When I played with him for the first time in Brawl, I had not changed at all. He was very difficult to control.

Snake: I just have one question: WHY? There were so many other third-party characters you could have put in, but why Snake? He’s an Ok character as far as playability and all, but why? I will be wondering for years what it would have been like to have Geno instead of Snake.

Sound: 8/10
All the sound tracks from your favorite Nintendo games are finally here! If only there was a way to get those sounds to your MP3 player… The actual game sounds are good too.

Cons:
Nothing major to speak of here. I think I pretty much covered all of this in the characters section.
Total: 10/10
Who has to tell you to that this is such a great game? Go out and buy it RIGHT NOW… If you can find a copy…

I swear the next review I write is going to be very pessimistic.
~HS