The Smash Bros. franchise has always been one of the better party games to play when you've got a mixed group of people over. It's never too challenging for even the most novice of players to pick up and play. Every character move set is distilled into about four actions and can be done even on the Wii-motes 2 buttons without any challenge and you can figure out on the fly without any real handicap. With the online and multi-platform options it has become even more accessible than ever before.
And the new 8 player smash mode is a joy to behold – if not a bit difficult to round up enough controllers so that everyone can play instead of just using CPU-controlled bots to round out the numbers.
The variation in game modes continues. Despite being a party-style fighting game, it really feels like a different game depending upon the number of playable characters that are on screen at any time. 1-on-1 is very cerebral and measured; 3 to 4 has less of a strategy element in favor of carefully choosing the correct moves at the right time to take control of the game; and the 8 player Smash might as well be referred to Armageddon.
Trying to do anything more than just stay alive is dangerous, it is so easy to lose your character on the screen when things start to get frenetic. Which leads me to my only complaint about that mode – you can be off screen in this mode even if you are still on the map (not referring to being "smashed off" the screen – still on a ledge or what-have-you just too far away from the rest of the action to bother being shown) and unable to see enough to safely navigate back to everyone else. As long as you focus on the experience as a party-game instead of a true fighting game this becomes forgiveable.
As with every Smash Brothers title that has been released to date – there's a huge roster of characters – one even hearkening back to the old Nintendo game watches from the late 70's early 80's – and as usual everyone has a character that they wish could have been added but for some reason or another hasn't been. With such a huge variety of characters comes a massive variety in attacks and animations, which in turn leads to a bit of a problem: some characters are hard to win with. Take them into solo matches, and it qualifies as a severe handicap. As with any fighting game, there's always tweaking and re-balancing that goes on in the background but go online for any appreciable amount of time and you will notice that there are a stack of characters that nobody uses which is a darn shame for a game with such a diverse roster. That being said,there are a few DLC characters being added as well as a few extra levels but at the end of the day, nothing ticks me off than having to spend more money to keep playing easily against other people on-line.
This game is a downright treat to watch and listen to. The character designs are charming and inventive like only Nintendo can do; the violence, while cartoonish, isn't over the top and most parents would be okay with letting their kids duke it out a bit. The arena designs are a master class in ingenuity. I wholeheartedly wish that Namco and Capcom take note of the creative ideas that were incorporated into their levels for the Street Fighter and Tekken franchises. Instead of just giving up pretty backgrounds to look at while we have the usual linear/open fighting space with stuff going in the back let's have a higher degree of terrain interactivity.
The variety in game modes is surprisingly robust for a fighting game. Pretty much every feature can be turned on or off depending upon your mood and you have so many different packagings for the same basic game. Some people will spend the time focusing in on the online modes (shame that 8-player smash isn't playable online!) while others with OCD or who prefer to play alone will get sucked into battling all of the available challenge modes and trying to collect all of the trophies (of which there are MANY).
In a perfect world the menus could have benefited from a little better streamlining and trying to meet up with friends for a game online is impossible in-game (only can be done by calling and texting amongst the group – really could have used some kind of party/team chat to co-ordinate people). Hopefully they will take away these criticisms and help build an even more perfect game next time.
All in all, Smash Brothers is the premier party-fighting game. Hardcore fighting game enthusiasts will be left wanting for more, but the point is to keep the bar low enough that everyone can play. Definitely worth picking up for your Wii U.
- Tazman
Follow @MichaelSiewert
The Good:
- The premier party fighting game – easy to pick up
- One of the handful of reasons to own a Wii-U
- 8 person smash? How did I live before?
The Bad:
- About as deep as a wading pool for hard-core fighting game fans
- Normally most games use some re-balancing, some characters need a re-design
- DLC? For a Nintendo game? You guys too now?
