Super Smash Brothers Brawl Wii

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I got home from work on Friday to find my wife and kids playing Super Smash Brothers Brawl (SSBB) - button bashing and engrossed.

I watched for a bit and soon realized that this game was cut from the same cloth as Melee. I sat back, closed my eyes and listened to the music - ringing out the same familiar themes from the original Smash game - and I smiled. Now, with the kids in bed and pizza ordered it's grown up Brawl time. And it is simply fantastic.

The game backdrops hold such massive perspective, they make each level a joy to play and the accompanying music is just as good. These work together to create varied engaging environments that draw you into their individual atmospheres. Not often you can say that about music in a beat em up! The levels themselves extend the familiarity brought by characters and music by drawing on elements of the related game. The WarioWare levels are ingenious, you actually have to solve them as your fighting!

The graphics are a fireworks display of colour, there's never a moment when you feel like the action is getting repetitive or samey. The character animation is smooth and perfectly adjusted to fit each personality. The new special abilities are well implemented as well - every character has one and they range from the stylish (Link's super arrow) to the ridiculous (Fox's tank). Given a little more time a favorite character will emerge for everyone. There is something for every style of player here, from a list of Nintendo games as long as your arm, all fine tuned to make them feel like they were always destined to be a Brawl character.

Another great feature is being able to unlock stuff whilst playing multiplayer games. The winner of a round will go on to fight alone against a CPU player to unlock - being cheered on by all their sofa buddies in the task!

But what sets this game apart from being just another platform fighting game? Simply put, stunning graphics, wonderful characters we can all identify with, great looking moves and balanced game play that gives every characters a chance no matter how different they are. In fact being able to identify with one of character over the rest will really give this game legs. For me Fox has everything I need, my wife is Kirby every time - it's brilliant to see- style vs. bounce!

The Perpetual Gamer longs for wide open spaces in which to live, explore and grow. Smash Brawl is not really place to live and grow and explore, but I can certainly see myself playing here a year from now. The game is open enough for anyone to pick up so that my whole family can enjoy playing together. The end result is that I have a whole chunk more time for the game myself - without having to spend time away from them.

I have had some really good sessions with my 6 year old playing through the adventure side of the game. It introduces each character as you go through with fantastic - and happily brief - cut scenes and battles. The second player can join in when they like or if they run out of life it's time to put the kettle on until the next round while player one fights on. Easy mode seems pitched just right for a 6 year old and his little sister (4) can hop in too without cause any annoyance as the screen always follows player one. Perfect.

On the face of it this may seem the opposite of a game you can loose yourself in. Granted, this game is best played with other people in the same room in small chunks. And each chunk is pretty similar to the last, although it's done so well it feels like a new experience every time. While I couldn't live here, I love to visit frequently. Like a Japanese meal, small courses - but lots of them.

SSBB brings a fabulous display of colour, vibrancy and hyper game play that delivers on all those promises made by Melee. I will gladly visit again and again, the life this game has is huge, so long as I've got someone special sitting with me playing it.

Written by Dom Roberts

You can support Dom by buying Super Smash Brothers Brawl Part 1



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Dom Roberts writes the Perpetual Gamer column.

"Welcome to my perpetual gaming reviews. My quest is to look for that one Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, DS lite and PSP game that links my own ongoing life to it."

Here are the games I've been playing recently:

• Batman Arkham City
• Just Cause 2
• Child of Eden
• Fallout 3
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