Zero Punctuation: Super Smash Bros. Brawl

[nightmare_gorilla]

admittedly i like ssbb, so my opinion will probably be disregarded. but all the same i have to say i'm somewhat disapointed with this review. i understand he owes that trading company for getting him a copy i guess but he's a reveiwer it's kinda the job of the people who employ him to do that i'd figure. admittedly some level of a shameless plug is amusing but there is a point in between nothing and too much to take seriously where it's just irritating and he managed to stay there.

i also have to say, yahtzee usually is pretty good about sticking to reviewing the game itself but this in general seemed to be his way of half assing it for being forced into reviewing this game, he didn't show any enthusiasm and he kinda went off on a tangent about how anyone who plays fighters or nintendo games must be an idiot. truth be told i don't like fighter games for the most part but some of them are actually fun.

i also would point out no one complains about the length of the 1 player mode in most games but when a game like this tries to do it it's somehow too long and boring

i understand his frustration this isn't the type of game yahtzee enjoys and being forced into it doesn't help the situation not to mention as he himeself said you have your own opinion already and what he said won't matter to you, so why bother.

i don't know who thought we were playing this game to use snake or sonic but you're wrong, and there are multiple ways to unlock every character in the game if you must have them you can unlock them after a little bit of classic mode.

 

[ElArabDeMagnifico]

Titanium Dragon, thank you for being objective. I agree with you. Some of the faults he said are definately true (especially the cameras). This game is meant for certain people, at certain times.

I personally can't rag on it to much because I love the unlockables, I did indeed know who Marth was AND (brace yourselves) I played the adventure mode for the plot.

*You obtain a buff! Nintendo Fanboyism +6524!*

I actually got it for the online play (when friends aren't around) - but I just recently got a Wii, only to discover how much the online SUCKS, I mean, 6 months and I couldn't find one, and after a long amount of searching, I finally get one and great, now I have a 12 digit code to remember.

 

[Eilanis]

As somebody who loved both SSB and SSBM (and don't currently own a Wii), I have to say that Super Smash Brothers Brawl is simply one of those games that you'll either love or hate. Now I've disagreed with Yahtzee on issues before. I personally enjoy jRPGs, for example. Now any reviewer that becomes so self-absorbed that he lets his own ego get in the way of actually reviewing a game.

In this review, Yahtzee doesn't concede anything about the game. There are reasons why people love this game and not just because half of our population is full of fuckwits that ought to bring the average IQ from 100 to roughly 85. I don't often proclaim myself to be a Nintendo fan boy since I don't even own a Gamecube, DS, or Wii. But let me say that SSBB is far more balanced that SSBM ever was. The game is easier to be good at. I don't know why people lump Street Fighter and Soul Calibur in with it, half the challenge is getting back to the stage or staying on it in the first place. You can't button mash that. Comboes aren't labelled (A + B + -> + ^ + <-) but are often more on the spot. You can't button mash that either (most of the time). If you take approximately 15-20 seconds to faff about with a character trying the different specials, grabs, smashes, and aerials, you can pretty easily understand how to play a character. This does explain why my girlfriend (who had never played a fighting game other than SFVC2 in an arcade) successfully killed multiple people in a free-for-all. The game is intuitive if you actually take a short amount of time to try and get your bearings. Considering that Yahtzee plays almost exclusively first-person and third-person games where your house (or joystick) is a device to aim with, I'm not surprised that he doesn't realize after his review of Peggle and Guitar Hero that learning a new genre of gaming isn't quite as easy as it looks.

Now as to the "control" issue, I believe that SSBB isn't meant for the Wiimote but rather the Nintendo GCN controller. Because the C-stick gives you a way to use smash attacks and aerials without influencing the direction of your character, you have a redefining sense of control. I experienced this in both Brawl and Melee individually.

Also, as to the unlocking issue, if you play with your friends for an hour or so over the period of a few months, you'll eventually unlock all the characters because an alternative character unlocking mechanism by playing a certain number of matches. If you're "that guy", then purposely gimp yourself to give yourself a challenge. Play King DeDeDe or Ganondorf instead of Marth/Wolf/Toon Link/any of the other REALLY good characters. If you're the tiniest bit interested in actually playing with other people, there are ways to compensate for being "too good" without being a twat and winning every match.

Anyways, perhaps I am a Nintendo fan boy, but I would say that I personally have liked the SSB series. They've changed and added enough in each game to make them interesting. Brawl is indeed not an exception but rather an exemplification of that.

 

[the_importer]

Wow, the posts have more than double since I left this afternoon, wonder how Yahtzee and the Escapist Magazine will react to this?

 

[herodotus]

Funny as always, but wouldn't mind seeing a PC game reviewed, or are we PC Gamers beyond reproach. Plenty of multi-platform games out there at the mo, or is this just for console gamers (term used loosely).

 

[sapient]

heh, i go to gametraders in perth to find old snes games that EB doesn't feel like stocking anymore.

 

[WHATISUTUBE]

Long time viewer, first time and only time poster.

It was alright.

I'm not about to read 14 pages, so I'm just gonna assume it was filled with SSB and Nintendo fanboys, AND Yathzee fanboys (that's right, they're out there, or rather, in here).

I completely agree with the Nintendo milking their past franchises comment (I got pissed off whenever I unlocked yet another "retro" song) although Kid Icarius (Icarus?) was a nice surprise.

Although some of it was more ranting really. Blood, violence? Rated E for everyone.

But, you know, come to think of it, truth be told anyone not familiar with SSB or Nintendo in general won't find anything special in Brawl, so you're right in that respect.

But the Sony/Microsoft/Iagreewitheverythingyathzeesays/whatever fanboys saying the game is complete garbage make me lol. I mean, I'd say thats a stretch. An annoying fanbase, yes. But utter garbage? Hah. I guess ANY game that is popular is then.

 

[Bryy]

No, thats nowhere near what he said. What he said was that the fighting between them was somewhat enjoyable, without elaborating that the concept itself is a great draw for anyone who ever played any of Nintendos main franchises.

.... stick to one argument, don't jump midstream.

He said that he liked how you could be Mario beating the crudpuddles out of other Nintendo characters. That is the games concept.

And now you're changing your entire argument to include something that you never said in the first place. What you just said ISN'T EVEN related to "the concept". Non-Nintendo Fans playing the game? How is that part of the games concept? That's part of its marketing.

Or are you now going to tell me that creative design and marketing are the same thing?

Do you understand the conept of the four main points of marketting a product, including the product itself, including its branding, function, as well as appearance and satisfaction levels gained?

For f***s SAKE, Yahtzee LIKED THE GAMES CONCEPT. He didn't say what you wanted him to, so what? He's not here to say what you want him to. If you don't like the review, then you don't like it; don't invent reasons as to why your dislike is justified to others.

It's not up to Yahtzee to review the game's marketability. It's not up to any reviewer.

I'm done with you (that is, unless you start up again with that autism-makes-me-write/think-differently crap, then we'll have a go), I fortunately don't need psychic powers to know that you think your opinions are facts.

 

[lileyboy]

I wholeheartedly agree with this review. Ever since the game came out my room mate has been playing it for hours on the TV in our common room. I played through about half of the single player with him and it was a boring nonsensical waste of time. I was only interested in the game because I wanted to play as sonic, but he had to be unlocked in Subspace Emissary. Having had to learn to play the game on the wiimote and nunchuck control scheme because of a temporary lack of gamecube controllers, I found in frustrating to see that only one of the four control schemes is passable. There aren't even enough buttons to do do some things on the others. How is it ok that the only good control scheme for the game doesn't even utilize the console's default controllers? Despite its faults, my room mate has probably wasted upwards of 50 hours on boss battles, and other inane challenges. Collect hundreds of randomly dropped stickers? Ok. Music tracks? You betcha! Never mind that to do this requires you to endlessly repeat the same tired battle mechanic over and over again. Lets not even get started on its merits as a fighting game, as its obvious that Nintendo felt no need to balance the characters or ensure that there is some sort of overarching back and forth between moves. Characters with swords simply have a higher attack priority that those without them. Some characters have absurdly weak and slow smashes (eg. sonic). Nobody seems to care. Perhaps Smash's only redeeming quality is its jump in and play nature, but at least for me its appeal wore thin after about a half an hour. None of the afformentioned shortcomings was enough to stop the game from getting glowing review scores. When a game has terrible nonsensical single player, three of four broken control schemes, and little depth and still gets good review scores thats the definition of a double standard. Thanks for seeing through the hype Yahtzee. I'll stick to real games.

 

[B E V O]

Yahtzee Croshaw you let me down
Just because you dont have enough skill in the game to do anything but mash buttons is by no fault of the game
You cant say that people must play the single player and then become "that guy" and then say the exact opposite so everythings ok, then claim its still bad. Your claiming its bad for no reason at that point
You would have never given this game a fair review from the word go
It seems overwhelming at the start, then you realise the attacks arent all that difficult
You would have never given this game a fair review from the word go
Once again crusifying a game within the first few hours

Ps: that doesnt mean i liked the witcher

 

[WHATISUTUBE]

ever mind that to do this requires you to endlessly repeat the same tired battle mechanic over and over again.

Welcome to every fighting game ever released, ever

and racing, for that matter

also, try using the wii mote, but sideways. Its great cause I don't have a wavebird.

I'll stick to real games.

As opposed to "fake" games?

I swear, the hate I've seen this game sometimes is almost as bad as Halo 3. Sure, its got a lot of hype (though the two are different, ones fueled by dew, the other mostly by word of mouth from what I've seen) but both games are good games in their own respects.

depth

last edit, I promise

welcome to party games. This isnt street fighter. I could hand you a picture of sakurai himself saying its a party game.

 

[Bryy]

Just because you dont have enough skill in the game to do anything but mash buttons is by no fault of the game

It always amazes me that people will read or listen to someone's words, and yet, even though they have verbal or written proof that they said THAT, the other party will say that they didn't say THAT.

 

[Mr Scott]

I find it ironic that Yahtzee -being a fan of the one player game- find the Subspace Emissary to be "u-hun-bearably" long, since plenty of his obsessively favorite "American RPGs" tend to have close to a month's worth of playtime. Whereas the SBE only lasts at the most, a few hours?

Not to be a slavering fanboy, but when the first Smash Bros. came out all of the unlockable characters on our copy of the game came from playing VS mode. But maybe that's because we played it almost only during the evening, and we live in Alaska, when it's minus forty plus wind-chill for seven months out of the year. But that's my argument for the argument against unlockables.

 

[Mursam]

Does nobody find it strange that 6 months after Yahtzee bags out Halo 3 only 389 comments were posted, yet within 12 HOURS of Yahtzee bagging out Brawl, the comment count has reached 488?

 

[ElArabDeMagnifico]

I find it ironic that Yahtzee -being a fan of the one player game- find the Subspace Emissary to be "u-hun-bearably" long, since plenty of his obsessively favorite "American RPGs" tend to have close to a month's worth of playtime. Whereas the SBE only lasts at the most, a few hours?

Not to be a slavering fanboy, but when the first Smash Bros. came out all of the unlockable characters on our copy of the game came from playing VS mode. But maybe that's because we played it almost only during the evening, and we live in Alaska, when it's minus forty plus wind-chill for seven months out of the year. But that's my argument for the argument against unlockables.

Yeah but with the insane amount of characters there are in this one, it is a huge pain in the ass to have to unlock them.

 

[ElArabDeMagnifico]

Does nobody find it strange that 6 months after Yahtzee bags out Halo 3 only 389 comments were posted, yet within 12 HOURS of Yahtzee bagging out Brawl, the comment count has reached 488?

Imagine when he reviews MGS4: GotP.

 

[Perpetr8r]

I was about to make a massive post about how Yahtzee wasn't fair on the game, but then I realized that as a reviewer, it's his privilege not to be fair on games. Quite frankly, adding my opinion to the mix won't make any difference whatsoever, and really, if people can't make decisions on a game themselves without relying totally on reviews then we have a bigger problem on our hands.

Simply put, I respect his opinion, even though I don't agree with his review. I think that having to review a game you aren't interested in can really sour the mood and the experience. If you don't engage with a game, then you can't really get a fair impression of it, now can you? So really, I think the major flaw in this review is that he had to do one on SSBB, more than anything else. Let's hope the games that he gets to review in the future are more suited to his tastes and less to his pet hates.

 

[Giddi]

heh, i go to gametraders in perth to find old snes games that EB doesn't feel like stocking anymore.

hah. want some more? I found all my old snes games in the bottom of a drawer the other day P

good review, but why the hell do people still do the first post thing?? ffs.

 

[Evilducks]

Does nobody find it strange that 6 months after Yahtzee bags out Halo 3 only 389 comments were posted, yet within 12 HOURS of Yahtzee bagging out Brawl, the comment count has reached 488?

Never doubt the power of fanboys and haters. Its a perfect storm.

 

[Crusnik]

I actually enjoy games like this when I'm playing with other people as bad as me. Knowing that you're bad is half the fun. An excellent review, as usual.