02-08-2016, 03:23 PM
Whilst Sm4sh definitely has much better core gameplay than Brawl, I have to say that Brawl was by far the more well-rounded package. Ironically, despite boasting a massive roster and lots of stages, Sm4sh felt... lacking to me.
4's Classic mode was the most barebones yet, there was no Adventure or story mode (3DS had Smash Run but that gets old fast), Special Smash modes were chopped from 3DS outside of Smash Run, the stage roster in both games is lackluster (many have concluded that WiiU has the absolute worst stage lineup in the series), especially since Sm4sh's retro selections skipped over Melee heavily, the inventory of items is iffy, WiiU's stage creator is embarrassingly threadbare compared to Brawl's and finicky as hell to work with (the drawing detection is just ever so slightly off and I've often accidentally lost two minutes of meticulous drawing work due to a line going askew when I didn't want it to, even when drawing in grid mode, and don't get me started on the abomination that is drawing lava), the roster is mostly solid but has some iffy inclusions and omissions, tethering the character roster between the WiiU and the 3DS games severely limited the potential for fighters both old and new, Target Blast is a poor substitute for Break the Targets (it was a neat bonus stage for Classic and a great way to test your skillset with a fighter), and on a more minor note there's a lack of polish for the "smaller" things (the menu being awfully designed and laid out, not having an instant retry option for losing an Event, a crapton of reused Brawl sound effects, select portraits sometimes taking forever to load even on WiiU, tons of reused Brawl trophy models, etc).
Not a bad game but it feels more like a blueprint for a full game. It's got the fighters, but it needs... pretty much everything else IMO.
4's Classic mode was the most barebones yet, there was no Adventure or story mode (3DS had Smash Run but that gets old fast), Special Smash modes were chopped from 3DS outside of Smash Run, the stage roster in both games is lackluster (many have concluded that WiiU has the absolute worst stage lineup in the series), especially since Sm4sh's retro selections skipped over Melee heavily, the inventory of items is iffy, WiiU's stage creator is embarrassingly threadbare compared to Brawl's and finicky as hell to work with (the drawing detection is just ever so slightly off and I've often accidentally lost two minutes of meticulous drawing work due to a line going askew when I didn't want it to, even when drawing in grid mode, and don't get me started on the abomination that is drawing lava), the roster is mostly solid but has some iffy inclusions and omissions, tethering the character roster between the WiiU and the 3DS games severely limited the potential for fighters both old and new, Target Blast is a poor substitute for Break the Targets (it was a neat bonus stage for Classic and a great way to test your skillset with a fighter), and on a more minor note there's a lack of polish for the "smaller" things (the menu being awfully designed and laid out, not having an instant retry option for losing an Event, a crapton of reused Brawl sound effects, select portraits sometimes taking forever to load even on WiiU, tons of reused Brawl trophy models, etc).
Not a bad game but it feels more like a blueprint for a full game. It's got the fighters, but it needs... pretty much everything else IMO.