Super Smash Brother Melee

[The Avatar]

I was very wary of this title when I first saw it, mainly because character collaboration games have a very bad history with me. So, that is why my girlfriend ended up getting this game for us together, and baby, if your reading this: YOU DID GOOD!!
SSBM (Super Smash Brother Melee) is a party game. It is very simple, addictive, fast, pretty, and crazy to play. It is the perfect party game to play with your mates as SSBM really shines in four player mode. There is no storyline here whatsoever, but that doesnt make a difference as the game is undoubtably made for fast paced fun rather then strategy.

The concept is simple, beat the crap out of anything that moves. You do that and you win. This game has oodles of options which can extend gameplay for a very long time, and can also make fighting hilarious. There are 20 characters from the nintendo francise and even a few characters from the old LCD games/watches. A tonne of pickup items and powerups, different games modes, and heaps of game arenas to choose from.

GRAPHICS Score:95%
Slick graphics that use 3D objects on a 2D playing environment. You can pan the camera around when the game is paused so you still get the effect of a full 3D environment, which is very nice. All the level backdrops look beautiful, with animation and even events that happen in the background that can change the whole mode of battle. Its especially great in the pokemon arena which has a huge screen in the audience that show instant highlights, live action and also who the current leader in the round is!
The character animation is fantastic, with each character having their own level backdrop, and the graphical detail put into each character is very nice for a fast fighting game.

My only gripe is with the menu designs, they dont look that great and seem to have been a little rushed. But overall it still looks quite nice, so its really doesnt lose many marks here.

SOUND/MUSICScore:85%
Nice music in each level. The sound effects are also quite impressive. However the main theme is really annoying, I have it running around in the back of my head right now and its really driving me bonkers.

MULTIPLAYER Score:100%
Someone once told me that you should never give a game a rating of 100%. Ever. No matter what.
Well, too bad, because the multiplayer aspect of this game is perfect. In fact, this whole game was designed to fill the multiplayer void in GameCube gaming and show what it has to offer. SSBM covers all needed aspects of multiplayer:
It has four player mode
It has multiplayer bots available
It has heaps(And I mean HEAPS!) of different game modes that do change the way the game is played
It has lots of multiplayer arenas to battle in
Multiplayer game can further be configured, that is besides game modes but also: slow/fast time, big little characters etc. etc.


This game covers it all perfectly. And at each party I've hosted (which is only one now that I think about it), everybody agreed that SSBM is the game to play and we have played it for hours on end.

(RE)PLAYABILITY Score:98%
No matter how many times you beat someone, how many different ways you do it, no matter how well you do it, eventually you will get sick of any fighting game(except Streetfighter vs Xmen, I dont think Im alone in thinking that that was the best arcade game ever made!). SSBM has also included a single player mode that allows you to play through a campaign, and it also has single player challenge missions which I still haven't finished!
This game goes all out in making sure that you will never be bored with it, and to that end it does succeed. I still whip it out every so often for a bash and Ive owned the game for almost 2 years now!

CONTROLS Score:90%
The controls are very easy to master as there aren't many different buttons to remember. Simplicity and effectiveness of the controls is a necessity for a game like this and SSBM has done it very well. It can get confusing sometimes in four player mode as to whats going on, who is hitting who, and you will sometimes find your hitting the wrong button completely, but I feel that that is part of the fun of multiplayer gaming.
Combo attacks and super attacks are very easy to do, and the learning curve for this game is very gentle. After five minutes of play anyone can smack it up with the best of them.

ATMOSPHERE Score:95%
This category is hard to judge because of the lack of storyline. But then looking at it from a multiplayer perspective, this game has all the atmosphere you need. And really, seeing as that was the direction of the game I feel it has achieved its aim very well. You cannot help but get caught up in the thrill of the tournament, and trying the chase down all the elusive trophies in this game.

On a side note, this game has included much information about Nintendo gaming in general. This comes in the form of trophies that you win, or gamble for. Each trophy has a little history lesson in it, for example the Mario trophy(of which there are around 20 different ones) has the history of Mario, when he came into creation and what games he has been in, and even some other obscure info that you can use to further your nerd powers!

WEB INTERGRATION Score:85%
You would think as this game cannot be played over the net that it would not have much web stuff dealing with it. Well, there you would be wrong. This game has a dedicated website, which includes information about secret characters, levels and how to unlock them. It also has a web based SSBM mini game that can be played via email, and is free! Very nice.
The flash site can be a bit of a pain if your on dial-up(So maybe you should think of joining the rest of the universe in the 21st century and upgrade your connection?). But I have seen sites that are much worse with loading times.

OVERALL Score:93%
This game is certainly a must for your collection if you are into fighting games. It has all the components needed to keep anyone in a state of blissfull bashing goodness for months. Multiplayer gaming is also great here, if you have four controlers and four friends then give it a go for sure.
This game is also a GameCube classic so it will be cheap to buy.

[The Avatar]

Super Smash Bros. Melee is the sequel to the smash hit(pardon the pun) Super Smash Bros. on the Nintendo 64, with Nintendo this time using the potential of the Gamecube to make this game incredible albeit with a lack of story. The story of the game is this, a young child is playing with their Nintendo figurines and decides to make them do battle amongst once another with the objective of the game being to beat all opponents in order to came face to face with the evil villian of the piece 'Master Hand' which is the childs' hand.

GRAPHICS
The graphics are of the photo-realistic variety and make the game that much better for the ability to display the expressions of pain, concentration, anger and the like on the faces of the characters. This combined with the abiltiy to zoom in on gameplay and to zoom in on a single player whilst the game is paused allow you to see the kind of detail that Nintendo have put into making this game.


SOUND & MUSIC
The soundtracks for each level are taken from the game that they are based on for example the Great Bay level which is based on the area of the same name in The Legend of Zelda Majora's Mask features the backing track of Saria's song which was originally featured in Ocarina of Time but was also used for a few of the scenes in Majora's Mask. The sound effects and voice acting are pretty simple but they get the point across especially in the case of the taunts for each character like Captain Falcon's "Show me Your moves" or Ganondorf's laugh make the game that much better.


MULTIPLAYER
The mulitplayer mode is where the game shines with 24 characters to choose from once they have all been unlocked, a large number of stages, a ranking system and the ability to add in a player name makes the multiplayer mode excellent for a nights fun of you and your mates duking it out between each other using your favourite Nintendo character whether it be Mario, Yoshi, Kirby, Falco Lombari, Princess Zelda, Mewtwo or Mr Game and Watch just to name a few.


PLAYABILITY
Smash Bros. Melee was the very fist game I owned on my GCN and I still play it often despite having beaten it countless times there is still more to do with trphies to collect and the various modes allow you to play the game again and again, with the gaming experience changing each time. It has three different single player modes allowing you to do battle with differnt numbers of oppents before reaching your goal which does change depending upon the mode your playing. In the standard mode your final opponent is Master Hand, in Adventure it is Bowser and in the All Star mode it is ... well i'm going to let you find that one out for yourself. There is also a new mode in teh game called the event mode in which you must fullfill a certain criteria in order to win, such as defeating an opponent, defeating an opponent in a time limit, collecting coins and many others, my two personal favourites are having to fight Ganon and Shadow link.

PROBLEMS
Only a few gripes with the game the main one being the CPU and level combinations in that sometimes the CPU will just suicide at a high level on some stages, which does get very irritating.

CONCLUSION
An excellent game and thoroughly deserving of the 95% that I've given it, the game just never gets tired in my opinion. Fun for all ages and all of the elements come together beautifully for a magical gaming experience. For anyone who owns a Gamecube and has never played this game I say to you "Go, go now and buy it before it's too late" it's something that should not be missed out on especially with it now beign in the Player Choice category of games and on sale in Australia for only $40 it's a must have.


Well that's it for this one next on the cards is Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles

[Twitch]

Thanks for throwing in my review mate I might just have to submit some more to go with others that are already here.