First impressions of ‘Super Smash Bros. Brawl’

Day 2 of E For All has been a day of previewing interesting video games, occasional celebrity sightings and attempting to operate mind-blowing new gaming interfaces. But mostly, it’s been a day of flashing my media badge to cut packed lines at the “The Super Smash Bros. Brawl” demo areas. Here are my impressions:

“Super Smash Bros. Brawl” has four control schemes available, but only the Wii Remote style was available at the convention. Basically, you turn the remote on its side so the directional pad is where a joystick would be and the 1 and 2 buttons are under your right thumb, and the B button on the back is for shielding.

All I have to say about this control method is that I’m glad there are three other methods available. It’s basically like playing an incredibly fast-paced third-generation console game with an original NES controller. After five matches with a particularly unskilled Nintendo exhibitor, my thumb was already feeling blistered. The lightning-fast directional changes and dodge rolls necessary to play are simply painful to perform on a Wii Remote. As for the B button on the back, I would have loved to use it to shield and dodge, but I simply don’t have a sixth finger.

The other control scheme I was able to try was the Wii Classic Controller, which looks like the lovechild of a PlayStation 2 controller and a Super NES controller. Gameplay was much improved with the classic controller, but the buttons for the grab move are poorly placed high up on the shoulders of the controller, and the parallel position of the two joysticks are less than optimal, placed very low on the controller and depriving your thumbs of a full range of movement. As I deployed my “1337 tatix” on the hapless Nintendo representative, attempts for fast lateral movement often resulted in jumping or diagonal movement.

The other controls available use the familiar Gamecube controller and the Wii Nunchuck combo.

Only a around a dozen characters were available in the demo, including Sonic The Hedgehog, Mario, Link, Samus Aran and others. I played with Pit, who is best described as a flying boomerang swordsman from the classic game “Kid Icarus,” and Ike, a character from the “Fire Emblem” series who wields a giant golden sword. Pit controls at a medium speed and seems to have pretty weak moves. His real strength is recovering from off screen with the ridiculously useful glide function, which kept me soaring back after numerous beatings to the frustration of my opponents. Ike was slow and incredibly powerful, with extremely explosive, flashy moves.

My general impression of the game was that it looks incredible. The models are significantly more detailed and the animations are noticeably smoother and more realistic. Additionally, the move set for each character seems to be more varied this time around, the end result of which is that it will take more time to discover each character’s most powerful moves. I also noticed that the general pace of the combat seemed to be slowed, even using what should be one of the game’s fastest characters, Sonic the Hedgehog. Perhaps this is an attempt to make this game more widely accessible across demographics, but with a franchise that has a fanbase comprised primarily of hardcore players, it seems to be an unnecessary concession. Look out for the game on Feb. 10, 2008.

Tomorrow I plan to get my hands on the Wii Zapper and spend some quality time with “Super Mario Galaxy.” Check back for impressions.

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