Rating Preview  Fun Factor  9.0   Graphics 10.0  Sound 10.0  Multiplayer 9.0  Single Player 8.0  Controls 10.0

            While most fighting games have you trying to be your enemy into submission, brawl has you trying to beat your enemy into the sky. The more damage the enemy takes the further subsequent blows will knock the opponent. Mix this up with up to three other players battling it out, tons of battle customization options, a huge assortment of unique items and you have a formula for some good party fun.

            While the formula for smash might not have changed too much from previous installments, one aspect that has always been lingering was the lack of a single player campaign. This time around this issue has been addressed. Instead of the 14 minute adventure mode in Melee, Brawl now has a 14 hour campaign called the “Subspace Emissary”. The Subspace Emissary features an epic storyline that attempts to give an important role for each character and has tons of fun clips to keep the flow of the story moving. The Boss Battles are reminiscent of the classic boss battles from many side scrolling action adventure games which are fun to play through as you attempt to use their attack patterns against them. Once you get past the epic movie clips and the boss battles what’s left is a basic beat’em up game that isn’t nearly as strong as the rest of the package. The problem isn’t so much with the beat’em up portion itself, but with the amount of it. After awhile it feels more like it was put in as filler to add hours to the single player and begins to get dull with the boss battles that are few and far between. This repetition becomes a lot easier if you have a friend as the Subspace Emissary also has a two player co-op option that easily adds a lot more replay value to the game. Once the Subspace Emissary is complete however there isn’t as much of a reason to come back as the best portions of the single player are unlocked, the clips and boss battles.

            Once done with the single player, the multiplayer is what will keep you coming back. Each character is pretty unique from one another and tends to have a lot of depth to their play style. Some focus more on strength and landing hard hits while others focus on speed and needling their opponents with small pockets of damage. Others have more unique fighting styles that focus on projectiles or on using their opponents own attacks against them. While the characters add depth to the core game, the replay value is increased by the addition of the new “stage builder” feature. Being able to create custom stages to your liking and share it with your friends will really keep you coming back once the other levels have been played out. Another feature adding heavily to the replay value is the addition of online multiplayer; this feature is a bit of a love/hate relationship as it is great in some aspects but lacking in others. Brawling with strangers really feels like its missing something as the time it takes to start a match up tends to be way longer than the match itself and is likely to lag because of the internet connection of your opponents could be weaker. This feature is likely not to get as much use as the “Brawl with Friends” option. This service is a bit of hit or miss as well as sometimes there is lag and a lot of the customization options are missing, especially the ability to do custom stages online. This makes the online multiplayer a great addition but is still not as great as the offline multiplayer. Regardless of the weaknesses in online, all the multiplayer options offered in brawl are sure to eat up tons of time just in experimenting with different characters, stages and items, making Brawl one of the best multiplayer games to date.

            Brawl is also simply one of the best looking games on the Wii to date. The models are all crisp and artistically pleasing. The explosions and effects are gorgeous as well. The levels are all mostly epic and unique from one another from changing climates to changing with the actual time of day. Even with a huge amount of information being put on the screen the game also seems to be able to maintain a high frame rate.

            To accompany the impressive visuals, brawl features an epic sound track. If music is your thing, you are getting more than your monies worth. Brawl features an assortment of songs able to fill the sound track of more than seven games. Everything from the most nostalgic of NES tracks to unique orchestra assortments made just for Brawl. What’s even better is the fact that is if there is a song you don’t care for much, you are able to decrease the odds of that song playing when on the respective stage or increase the odds if you love it. The impressive assortment of songs and the customization options for this game really makes this one of the most impressive soundtracks ever put into a video game.

            Brawl is easily one of the best values on the Wii. The addition of the single player campaign and a ton of challenges add some serious hours to the previously lacking single player game. The controller options make it much easier to brawl the way you want with fully customizable controls for four different controller types. Multiplayer got a serious face lift adding tons of hours with the level editor and online play. The soundtrack is so huge; getting bored of music is one of the last concerns of the game. All that said, whether alone or with friends, Brawl offers enough hours to easily be one of the best values and a must own for the Wii.