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Gaming, In My Opinion
The original N64 Smash Brothers was a smash hit (no pun inteded. Honest!) as people around the globe battled it out with ten of the most famous/obscure Nintendo characters of all time. But Super Smash Brothers Melee is a very different story.
Melee can be summed up in a few words; THE PINNACLE OF MULTIPLAYER GAMING! With two to four players, Melee is addictive. Even my Playstation-besotted friends can't help but play at least an hour of non-stop Smash Bros whenever they come over. The structure is exactly the same as the previous version; knock your opponent out of the screen before the time/lives run out, using Nintendo's most beloved characters, their special moves and various hilarious weaponry. Each level is straight out a character's game, complete with true theme tune that can bring tears to anyone who lived during the NES/SNES eras (the Dr Mario Theme, anyone?). But the amazing thing is how much Nintendo has crammed into the tiny optical disc. There are twenty five, TWENTY FIVE, characters to play as, each with four special moves plus roughly twenty five different weapons. There are roughly seven singleplayer modes (including fifty one event matches), over twenty multiplayer modes, over twenty five multiplayer stages to play on and over THREE HUNDRED TROPHIES to collect, some of which you need other game files on your memory card for (Pikmin, Mario, Zelda and Metroid are the only confirmed ones), so this game has PLENTY to keep ANYONE occupied. Even as a single player it will take you at least a month to unlock all of the characters, levels, and modes...and that's if you are on non-stop, 24-7 for a month. The bottom line is, Melee is all of three things. 1) An encyclopaedia of Nintendo (the trophies come with a history of what it portrays) 2) A prime of example of how beat-em-ups should be done (fun and simple is the best way to do it) 3) THE ULTIMATE MULTIPLAYER EXPERIENCE EVER KNOWN, ON ANY CONSOLE, IN ANY GENRE. Super Smash Bros Melee is an essential purchase for any 'Cube owner. Every console needs a SupremeGame to launch it, and (ignoring the few weeks that it was delayed), this was the Cube's. Whether you end up playing alone or with four friends, it's a prime example of what the Cube can do with our favourite characters, and what Nintendo can do with both solo and multiplayer games. if this is just a taste of the future, my mouth is watering. VISUALS: Nintendo at its best. All the characters have reached the Next Generation superbly. 10/10 SOUNDS: Familliar tunes and voices, plus some new ones. Music to any Nintendo fan's ears. 10/10 PLAYABILITY: If you've played the original, you'll love it. If you haven't, you'll love it. 9/10 LIFESPAN: You'll be playing it for years and years and years. This will still be played even when GC2 is out. 10/10 VERDICT: Drop and give me fifty if you don't already own this, all the time reciting "I MUST BUY THIS GAME". 97% |