Super Smash Bros. Brawl ( Video Game 1)

Okay, so I know one of my 'time for a change' items on the to do list is to write video game reviews for games I have beaten, and have not read reviews for. But I don't remember the review for Brawl what so ever, or what score it even got. And I have essentially beaten the game, I mean all that is left is collecting all the stickers, which is just a "play the game really long time," game at this point. Without further adieu, I present to you my very first video game review, EVER!

P.S. I will make this review pretty generic, with writing about it for a while, then giving it a score of a certain word i.e. (bad, sucky, crappy, stupid, to excellent, amazing, spectacular, phenomenal, awesome, cool, etc. Who needs numbers? Here it goes!

Super Smash Bros. Brawl is the third game in the Super Smash Bros. Series starting with Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 64 (SSB, in 1999), then Super Smash Bros. Melee for Game Cube (SSBM, in 2001), and now Brawl (SSBB, in 2008). Each game is always an improvement over the last, and SSBB is no exception. The SSB franchise can be generalized into "fighting" genre; however, this fighting game is unlike the usual likes of Street Fighter, Soul Caliber, Mortal Kombat, etc. As opposed to taking your opponent out by beating them till there health is diminished, you have to damage your opponent over time, increasing his damage, thus causing your opponent to fly further upon each hit. Eventually you defeat your opponent is by knocking them out of bounds, taking out all of their lives before they take out your lives. The physics of this game are unmatched to any other fighting game. Up to 4 players can play at once on one screen, there are jumps, double jumps, sometimes triple jumps, and depending on the character, more 'jumps' then that due to being able to fly, or glide. You have melee moves using one button, and then there is another button that is the "special" button that does the characters specialty moves, that are sometimes projectile attacks. Then you have shielding buttons. Now on top of these buttons, you can press them in combination with using the control stick in certain directions to perform even more moves, or in the case of the shield buttons, dodges. This causes for epic fights, that are unique each match, there are aerial battles, off the edge of the stage battles, then you have people dodging your attacks mid air, while attacking back at you, then when you are on the ground, you shield their attack, then attack them, then they shield grab you, and chuck you off the edge, running after you, jumping off the ledge, then spiking you to your doom. Just then you're opponent is thinking he has his win in the bag, but you come back and duke it out, stage spiking him right back, the tides have turned. And that is a match without items turned on.

Hope is never lost in SSBB, there is always a way to comeback, and that is just one of the many things about this game that keeps me coming back for more. This game has 35 characters to choose from, 41 stages to choose from, a stage creator to make even more stages made by you, up to 4 player matches all at once, causing all out brawl! Then you have different modes you can chose to play to mix up your matches, there are items ranging from baseballs bats to light saber swords, to ray guns, to turtle shells and tons more, then there are different events to do to earn achievements within the game, then there are other types of games to play to break records with target break, home run contest etc. Then of course there is training mode to do pretty much anything to make yourself a better player. This is just scratching the surface. Then you have the campaign mode, with drop in any time couch co-op. This campaign mode is spectacular! It will last you hours, and even more hours if you wish to do everything possible in each level.

This is game is of course not for everyone, it is best played with friends and or brothers, so if you are wanting a good single player game, while it is fun, it really shines with multiplayer.

SOUND: AWESOME! ~ The sound in this game is top notch, with the entire soundtrack being various orchestrated versions of new and old Nintendo songs, the sound is awesome.

GRAPHICS: GREAT! ~ The graphics are not realistic by any means, but that is not the point. The characters in this game were from teh beginning made to be cartoony; therefore, the graphics are cartoony; however, the graphics far surpass any other SSB game in the past, they are great.

GAMEPLAY: PHENOMENAL! ~ This game as a fighter, shines above all others, the gameplay is simply unrivaled. The physics engine used makes playing this game amazing, and learning the basics of this game is very streamlined, while mastering the game is difficult. The gameplay is extremely fluid making it phenomenal.

LASTING APPEAL: PHENOMENAL! ~ I have put approximately 1,000 hours into this game, aka phenomenal. 'nuff said..

VERDICT: PHENOMENAL!

P.S. Again.

I am an amateur video game reviewer, so this does not by any means do this game justice, if you really want to see why I believe this game is phenomenal, you enjoy fighting games, and you have a few buds to play with? Then you absolutely NEED to pick this up and play it.