So I know its kind of lame, but I'm gonna use this space to expand a bit more on Brawl, what I like, what I don't, etc. How is this any different than any other website's 'hands on preview'? Simple...I'll be doing this wearing a monkey suit and having porcupines shoved down my pants at the time.
Ok, so no, its not really different, but I'll also provide opinions with stuff. And once again, I'll try to keep things spoiler free.
So first and foremost, the game FEELS different. And it'll be very hard for me to describe HOW exactly, so I'll just post some observations on this front and see what you make of them. Sticking to walls is both perfectly easy and totally disconcerting the first time you do it. Not every character can do it, so make sure you know you can before you try it. Grabbing edges seems to have gotten easier; I feel like they expanded the range of where you will grab. And dashing...you almost have to be more deliberate in your dashes. I'm not sure how else to describe it, its just not as easy to dash. The move isn't different or anything, you just need an extra millisecond of pressure on the analog stick to get it to go. The game manages to feel more floaty (as in the character jumps feel longer and higher, but keep in mind this could be a side effect of playing lots of Pit, Meta-Knight and Kirby), but at the same time, it takes more damage to kill even light characters. Being a speedster seems to be more of an advantage this time, since you'll be able to stick around longer. There are a number of weapons that seem 'broken' like the Hammer...there are lots of one-hit kills. That having been said, they are all balanced by scarcity and the potential for backfiring, not to mention the fact that you do still actually have to CONNECT with said weapons, and even then nothing's a guarantee. Oh, and if at all possible, connect using a wired internet connection and encourage others to do the same. Nick and I played an online match, and I was having LOTS of blips and hiccoughs from the lag. He had no trouble and the game noted that the connection issues were on his end (each partner you have on your friends list is given a color coordinated 'status' icon), but it could have been that since he hosted, the data was generated by his system and then bottlenecked on its way out and transfered to mine. Having me host would probably simply transfer the issue to his end; we'll test it when we get a chance. Oh, and for the curious, yes, you can have multiple people at one system if you're doing online; just have them both sign in and you're good to go.
So what does it all add up to? Well, its still a HELL of a good game, but its like buying a new couch. Sure, its made of similar material and the color looks the same, but the cushions just haven't been broken in yet. I'm still in the exploratory phase here (mostly because despite picking it up at midnight, I've only been able to log 5 or so hours), so its hard for me to give full impressions. So far, one big thing I've noticed is that the game feels slower, because it feels like the average character speed has dipped, but its not a bad thing since it helps with balance. And besides, not EVERYONE has been made slower. I'm really liking the sound design. First and foremost, I can't count the number of times I've caught myself listening to a song and remembering it, even if it's been over a decade since I played the game its from. Additionally, punches and kicks sound a little 'harder hitting' this time around, and for ONCE, Smash's 'beam sword' actually sounds like the friggin lightsaber it is! Guess they figured if Lucasarts was gonna sue, they could afford the hit. I mean, YOU be the judge that has to deliver the sentence that all fanboys must return the game so nintendo can take the "vwing" sounds out.
One more topic I wanna dive into real fast is the Subspace Emissary Mode. First and foremost, yes, the story is as poorly constructed as a 13 year old girl's first attempt at slash fic and has probably about as many characters in it. But I'll be damned if anyone else could take 20+ playable characters and make a 10 hour story mode out of it featuring epic and gorgeous cut scenes (more on that in a second) and have ZERO dialogue. Not even battle taunts. Grunts, and that epic anime thing where they glare an ellipsis at each other. Oh, and the usual plot 'twists'...like mistaken identity, betrayal and that weird gravity thing where every character is strong enough to drag every other character by the back of the collar in a comedic fashion, while simultaneously being light enough to be dragged in said fashion. All the good guys anyway. As for the visuals, I have two words. HOLY and...well, I'm not allowed to say the other here, so you can probably imagine it. There was one scene where I forgot I was watching something being rendered on a Wii. I'll put in the disclaimer that I play on an SDTV without so much as pro-scan for both my Wii and PS3 and honestly, some of these visuals were the most impressive thing I've ever seen off of that television. Forget the uncanny valley, there was about 5 solid seconds where this stuff looked REAL. Oh, and I should probably mention how it plays, eh? Well, imagine you're playing on any of the constantly moving levels, except you can sometimes control the movement and pace of the level. Half of the time, you'll be playing in a level with a ceiling, which makes it nearly IMPOSSIBLE to die, even at 300%. On top of that, most of your enemy fodder has all the staying power of the fighting polygon team in Endless Melee. Its not the deepest of modes, but its fun, its the fastest way to unlock stuff and the cinematics are amazing. All in all, I'm glad its there, even if it doesn't quite live up to the "Kingdom Smash" moniker I gave it.
All in all, this is just a well made game, top to bottom. I'm nowhere near done exploring it and I can tell. The menu load times are blazing fast, but there are odd load issues in other spots, especially Subspace. Online is functional and fun, though it remains to be seen how it will do for an overseas match. The single player mode is nice as a distraction, but its not what you're here for. We all came for the multiplayer, and I'm happy to say it does not disappoint. Like I said, I'll try and give a full review as soon as editorials go up. Cheers!
-T.T.
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