THIS REVIEW CONTAINS EXCERPTS WRITTEN BY JAKE & BONNIE
There isn’t really much of a story to Smash Bros U. Nintendo has essentially gathered its more popular characters from their various franchises to duke it out for supremacy. This entry marks the 4th console release of the series and in such has added a plethora of modes, extras and characters. Enough that will keep any Nintendo fan or fighting fan beyond happy.
This is the first time the series has entered the realm of High Definition and boy oh boy does it show. As opposed to its cell-shaded twin counter part on the 3DS, every monocle of detail looks vibrant and stands out strong, on your TV or the Wii U Gamepad it all looks wonderful. Menus are much the same exceptionally colourful and easy to navigate, whilst perusing these menus most people will notice something exceptional about them. A vivid soundtrack that invokes the very spirit of competition can be heard throughout game play, catered to your personal flavour and draws inspiration from all walks of life in the Nintendo world.
What makes Super Smash Bros magical is the audio. All these elements are bought together in such a delightful little package that it’s so hard not to feel like smiling the whole time. It’s fast and it’s fun. The stages are amazing to look at (if you get the opportunity to look instead of SMASH) and listen to there’s an amazing mix on offer. The roster of characters is as hearty as you would imagine and again, they all look and feel absolutely spectacular.
As a very broad overview Smash is about laying damage to your opponent/s and increasing their smash percentage. The higher the percentage the further your opponent gets knocked, the ultimate goal being to knock your opponents out of bounds for the stage.
Lets broaden the horizons of accessibility for this game. If you aren’t a fan of the Wii U gamepad or pro controller, there are multiple options available at your finger tips to use. The Wii Remote, Wiimote & Nunchuk, Classic Controller, Classic Controller Pro and finally the Gamecube controller (which requires a special adapter to use up to 4 Gamecube controllers). Like I said plenty of options, I haven’t played a game in the series since it’s initial launch on the Nintendo 64, so needless to say the fundamentals of the controls were not what I was used too; thankfully there is a profile option that allows you to use custom made controller layouts and frankly it is a life saver for myself at least.
Keeping to the tonne of options, players are given the choice to pick one of 49 characters. The much more popular characters such as Mario, Luigi, Link, Kirby, Donkey Kong etc are available from the get go but a number of characters are left for you to unlock at your own pace. Frankly I found this method to be absolutely pointless because these unlockable characters didn’t really inspire me to push myself to unlock them? Maybe it’s because of personal preference but that’s the beauty of opinions.
Game modes come at you harder and faster than a flurry of punches from Kirby. Players can now opt to have an 8 player smash (offline only) with a mixture of teams or free for all but can only be performed on certain stages. Traditionally the max amount of players has been 4 and those who favoured that mode still can. Items are plentiful and as chaotic as ever whilst levels are vast and varied. Some move you around at a million miles an hour and others are stationary, only one thing can be sure though is that danger is waiting for you.
Smash Wii U online is a mixed bag. Being offered to 4 players of team and individual competition in modes of Glory or for fun. Unfortunately every attempt I have had to play online has resulted in the slowest game play I have experienced, due to connection issues obviously. The problem seems to be sever issues from what I have read, My internet isn’t the most powerful and usually is the source of blame in situations like this but having done some research, it seems Nintendo have a little but more fine tuning to do with this portion.
These figures have launched along side Smash Wii U and are compatible across a few Nintendo games at the moment with more scheduled in the near future. Although we will just be focusing on their interaction with Smash Bros for today.
To integrate your chosen Amiibo with the game simply hold it near to the lower left hand side of the Gamepad, upon doing so you can then give your figure a name and select from a variety of coloured outfits for them. Playing Smash on various modes can earn you a variety of moves and abilities to customise your character.
In battle your Amiibo can fight along side you or against you. With the sole purpose being to level them up to stand a fighting chance when you take them into battle. Currently level 50 is the max for these characters and it doesn’t take a great deal of time for them reach this plateau and once they hit this stage I didn’t find them to be of much use unless I was taking them to battle at friends houses. Exposing Amiibo to various situations and enemies forges their battle tactics and strategies. Along with taking notes off of your personal game play
None the less, these items added a new interesting spin on the game but ultimately proved nothing more than a bit of a gimmick. Or at least a small stepping-stone to what they may hold in the future.
