Super Smash Brothers: Brawl joins the ever-swelling ranks of Wii games that work better with GameCube controllers. Perhaps this is a limitation indicative of a larger problem with the system, but to me it is a serious flaw that the game experience is actually worsened when using Wii controllers. There is no motion-based game play as in Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi and there is no controller-specific advantage (Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution). Aside from the graphical improvements, nothing defines Brawl as a next-generation title.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in the single-player mode, which, for all intents and purposes, hasn't changed since N64 days. Although an attempt at innovation is made with the new "The Subspace Emissary" adventure mode, the lack of voice acting means that any story must be developed via a series of pokes, grunts and muted sexual tension. The gameplay experience is an incomplete fusion of fighter and platformer that fails as both.
Making matters worse is the lack of real online capability. A terribly inconvenient online multiplayer mode makes trying to find a game harder than Zero Suit Samus makes me (which between you and me is "11" on a scale of "1" to "rigid").
These limitations aside, the real meat of any Super Smash Brothers title has always been its offline multiplayer, and in this respect there is no better game on the market. A suite of new unlockable characters keeps players involved and the gameplay fresh while new maps like the WarioWare level, in which the background flips between small mini-games that net players mid-fight power ups, are much more interactive and keep the action high-paced.
There are more than enough new features to appeal to younger gamers, while series veterans will recognize all the traditional elements that made Super Smash Brothers so much fun in the first place.
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