Super Smash Bros. Brawl

The maps, as well, are for the most part fun and well thought out. I enjoy unpredictability of the Pictochat and Warioware levels as much as I love the well thought-out design of the Pikmin and Mushroomy Kingdom levels. The ability to tweak the music of the levels, as well as being able to unlock new music, is a great option. I'm also ecstatic to see the original Donkey Kong and Mario Bros. making appearances as unlockable levels. The stage editor is fun but a little too simple. The ability to rotate objects vertically as well as horizontally would have breathed allot of life into it, but the fact that Nintendo is releasing one user created level a day makes this a great feature. The endless amount of created levels means that you won't get bored with them any time soon.

The Subspace Emissary mode is fun, reminding me of a really cheesy fan fiction, but not very well balanced, difficulty-wise. Most of it is very easy, offset by very hard areas. Some of the platforming is unnecessarily hard. You can play two players in this mode, which is a double edged sword. It means that you get some help on the bosses and someone to enjoy it with, but you can get in each others way on the more challenging platforming segments.

Smash Bros. is one of the those games that begs for showing off your best work, and Nintendo has provided it's most complete effort in this area to date here. You can save recordings of any battle under three minutes long and take pics at any time, and then send them to anyone else with a Wii and the game via Connect24. Along with the free level-a-day, Nintendo includes a pic and a video, so you'll have plenty to do and see from here on out.

If I had to pick weaknesses for this game, I'd point out that the graphics aren't terribly improved over Melee on the Gamecube, and some of the characters are a little too similar (Fox and Falco, for example). Also, the Smash Ball, which is one of the big draws, is so obnoxious that I keep it turned off. Matches grind to a halt when one appears, as everyone chases it. Smash ball attacks are also terribly unbalanced.

In the end, though, this is a great game. With tons of characters, maps, music, stickers and trophies to unlock, the Subspace Emissary mode to beat, and online multiplayer to enjoy, this is a masterpiece. Unlike many games you beat and then forget, this is one you'll play for years to come, even after you've unlocked everything. If you like Nintendo's universe, or just great games in general, this is a hard one to beat. Buy it and love it. Alphasim out.

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