Review: Super Smash Bros. Brawl Part 3

Besides the main modes included in Super Smash Bros. Brawl there are many and I mean many smaller side modes which will add to the replay value in the game. From collectibles to a few extra modes I could guarantee that this is one game that will keep you're hands full for quite some time.

For starters there are quite a few smaller modes under the category of stadium. The first of these modes is something that should be familiar to those who've been playing the Super Smash Bros. series from the start. It's a little mode called Break the Targets. That pretty much describes it all. The main objective is to move through the various stages breaking the targets spread throughout them. There are a total of five stages which each pick up the bar of difficulty. These stages are also present through Classic mode and this is actually the way of unlocking this mode as well as the multiple stages for play outside of Classic mode.

The next mode present in stadium should be another familiar mode from the melee days. It's a mode known as multiman brawl. There a few breakdowns for this mode including ten man brawl which will pit you up against ten of the unique enemies which are present in this mode. The next is a bit more of any extreme known as the one hundred man brawl. The name describes it almost perfectly, this time around you'll have to fight against one hundred opponents during an ongoing battle. There are also a few other modes like fifteen minute brawl, endless brawl, and cruel brawl which all seem to describe themselves and will all pit you up against these various unique to this mode only enemies.

The lase mode I will talk about in stadium is known as Home-Run Contest which is a new and slightly more unique mode. In this mode you'll have the option of playing as any of your favorite characters. You'll take up a baseball bat and time a charged it to a punching bag to send it flying as far as you possibly can aiming for a high score. There are many things that can affect how far the bag flies from the amount of damage done to it as well as which character you're using at the time.

There is one other mode included under stadium however it isn't exactly available from the start of the game so I won't go into too much detail on it in order to not spoil it for those who've yet to unlock it just yet.

Throughout the game you will find yourself fulfilling what is called a challenge. Challenges are series of objectives that will unlock various objects from collectibles to extra characters and even extra stages and music. The challenges are all posted on a large wall. The wall is covered by glass windows which break whenever you manage to fulfill one of the many challenges. Challenges can range from close to anything by simply finishing Classic mode on a certain difficulty to having to finish in a set amount of time. Once you complete a challenge the objectives for the challenges to either side of it will become visible to you. After clearing certain objectives you will also receive hammers which will allow you to break a window unlocking the object behind it. This will only work on the windows which have their objectives reviled to you. These hammers should be saved for objectives which you may be having trouble completing because you will only receive a total of five of them throughout the game.

I've mentioned collectibles multiple times throughout this review already. The main collectibles are made up of trophies as well as stickers. Trophies and stickers can both be collected throughout Adventure mode as well as they can be collected using the coin launcher mini game built into the game which allow you to collect large amounts of both trophies and stickers depending on how many coins you've managed to collect throughout the other modes in the game. Coins are collected in close to every mode in the game and are usually collected at times when you don't even realize it simply by finishing fights in Classic Mode as well as for completing levels in Adventure mode. Stickers also have another use in adventure mode as you can equip them to characters in order to upgrade them and make them stronger. This isn't exactly necessary but is a nice addition and they do come in handy when playing on harder difficulties. There are trophies and stickers to close to every character and every game that you can possibly imagine.

Another nice extra in the game are the masterpieces which are short timed demos of multiple Nintendo titles from classic Nintendo consoles from the NES all the way up to the N64. Most of these titles also appear or are planned to make appearances on the Virtual Console built in to the Wii console. These demos are timed and only give you a short amount of time to play these game. Personally I see no point for this in the game and if Nintendo really wanted to give out some free demos then they should have just used the Wii Shop channel to give them for free download onto the Wii console.

Something else new to the Smash formula is the ability to build your own unique stages from sets of parts. This will allow you to create more unique levels and also send them from one person to the other using the Wi-Fi network. The stage builder is slightly lacking on parts to actually build levels with however giving very few possibilities for what levels can be build which is really disappointing a probably a mistake on the part of Nintendo as it had the possibility to be a very promising feature.

Keep in mind as you play that it is possible to take screenshots at anytime during a battle simply by pausing the game. It is also possible to record your battles for further viewing.

Overall Super Smash Bros. Brawl is one of the best games to be released on the Nintendo Wii console and one of the best games Nintendo has actually released in the last few years. It has a little of everything and has enough replay value to keep you playing for awhile. Online play as well as the stage builder features in the game could use work. There is plenty to collect and plenty of challenges to complete. For those who enjoyed previous Super Smash Bros. games then this is a must and even if you haven't played any previous in the series then you can still pick the game up and enjoy it.