The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Monday, March 17,2008 - 5A
High five.
Nintendo gets its photos taken at Sears
The battle continues
Storied Nintendo
franchise returns with
signature style and
updated features
By PAUL TASSI
Daily Arts Writer
The chance to review "Super Smash Bros.
Brawl" is something of a historic moment for
me. Nine years ago, when
Nintendo released the origi-
nal "Super Smash Bros." for
Nintendo 64, I first played Smash Bros.
one of the greatest games of
all time. In 2001, Nintendo
released the sequel, "Super Nintendo Wii
Smash Bros. Melee," which Nintendo
was hated by some (me) but
was still the best game for
Nintendo GameCube by a long shot (then
again, a lobster could count the number of good
GameCube games on one hand). Now, with the
release of "Brawl" on the Wii, expectations
were set exceedingly high. Did it deliver? For
the most part, yes.
What? How Did I Die?: The original "Smash
Bros." had a physics system advanced beyond
its years. You knew how each hit would feel
and exactly what it would do to your opponent.
"Brawl," though, has continued the trend set
by "Melee" of abandoning this physics engine;
It's sad to see that Nintendo didn't learn from
its mistakes. When you hit someone, they fly
in an unexpected direction for an unexpected
distance, and old staples like shielding and grab-
bing are almost useless. On top of this, "Brawl"
further complicates the convoluted control sys-
tem found in "Melee," which added moves like
forward-B attacks, sidestepping and air dodging.
Even "Smash" players with years of experience
will end up killing themselves and all-around
sucking, because the game play of the original
and that of "Brawl" are as different as oil and
water. It might take another nine years to fully
master the new system.
Because "Smash Bros." Needed a Plot:
Nintendo has now added an "Adventure Mode,"
which is just about as cracked out as any other
Nintendo storyline. All the good characters
team up and fight all the bad characters while
antimatter bombs demolish the countryside
and everyone keeps turning into statues. When
fighting games try to expand their scope and
become action games, they often fail (see "Tek-
ken" and "Mortal Kombat"), and "Brawl" is no
different. The characters fight endless numbers
of enemies in a side-scrolling format while try-
ing to avoid the typical Nintendo obstacles of
spikes, lava and bottomless pits. Although the
intervening cut scenes are fairly impressive,
the mode itself is largely useless and repeti-
tive. Fighting games should stick to fighting and
leave adventure mode to "Streets of Rage."
No Master Chief?: One of the most gratifying
things about "Brawl" is its sheer volume. There's
so much shit to unlock it's ridiculous. The most
coveted prizes are the bonus characters, some of
which are platform crossovers like Solid Snake
and Sonic the Hedgehog. Disappointingly, many
(all) of the original characters are carbon cop-
ies from Melee, but newcomers like Pit and Meta
Knight will have players picking new favorites
soon enough. With a grand total of 35 charac-
ters, it's almost impossible to have them all be
perfectly balanced like in the original, but give
Nintendo props for trying. It's possible to kick
ass with almost all of the characters, but the
biggest disparity amongst fighters comes in
the form of "Brawl" 's new finishing move fea-
ture. With some characters (Fox's tank, Samus's
obliteration beam) this fatality-like maneuver
can kill three players with little effort, while
others (Link and Ike's sword swipes) are lucky
to squeeze out even one kill. Some of the anima-
tions are awesome to behold, like Giga Bowser,
which made me shit my pants the first time I saw
him, and it's definitely something that should be
carried on to future installments with the kinks
worked out.
Seriously, Stop Eating Me: One of the many
problems with "Melee" was that players ended
up fighting the level instead of each other. Dan-
gerous hazards abounded in "Melee," and they
sure as hell do now as players are eaten by giant
fish, giant slugs and giant monsters that look like
they escaped from the set of "Where the Wild
Things Are." That being said, many of the levels
show some truly innovative design (a crumbling
castle, a spaceship in a firefight, a blank piece of
paper which draws its own obstacles as you go),
and the game designers should be applauded for
their creativity.
Control Freak: The major question when
"Brawl" was announced was "how will it work
with the motion-sensing Wii controller?" Well,
Nintendo responded in turn and made "Brawl"
playable with the Wii Remote, the Wii Remnote
with Nunchuck, the Wii classic controller and
the original GameCube controller. I've just
listed those in order of worst to best - at least
according to most websites - but if you're like
me and think the GameCube controller and its
button layout is something a blind 4-year-old
would sculpt out of Play-Doh, you might be
better off with the Wii Remote and Nunchuck,
which is a lot more intuitive than you would
think. But don't worry, you won't look like a
douche making punching motions in the air,
because all of the control schemes strictly use
physical buttons.
A Classic in Its Own Right: Like "Melee,"
which was the best game for the GameCube,
"Brawl" is by far the bestgame for the Wii atthis
point. Although it has lost much of what made
the original one of the greatest games of all time,
it's still a ridiculous amount of fun and a party
game for the ages. I could moan and groan for
the glory days of the original (and I clearlyhave),
but I'll be damned if I'm not half way to unlock-
ing Wolf at 400 multiplayer rounds already. Play
on.
'Fight Club'
for teenagers
By ANDREW LAPIN the owner of the local gym, the
DailyArts Writer Oscar-nominated actor shows
why he's the best guy around for
Ladies and gentlemen, present- playing tough, angry men. If the
ing the most nondescript movie entire movie had consisted of
title of the year: Hounsou exploding in sweaty
"Never Back rage at all the other whiny char-
Down." The acters, it would be one of the
title could have Never Back greatest films ever created.
applied to so Downi Perhaps it's not fair to judge
many things "Never Back Down" by its plot,
- a Tom Petty At Quality16 since the film was only intended
biopic or an and Showcase to be a showcase for mixed mar-
expos6 of chi- Summit tial arts fighting. Then again,
ropractors - Entertainment the fight scenes aren't good,
but instead the either. Thanks to sloppy editing,
film is nothing suspense never builds during
more than an uninspired teen- the brawls. After a while, all the
ager fighting movie in the vein of fighting starts to look the same.
"The Karate Kid." The biggest problem with
The plot reads like a shopping "Never Back Down" is that, at
list. We've got a tough pretty- its core, the movie is advocating
boy with anger issues named hardcore fighting as an accept-
Jake Tyler (Sean Faris, "Yours, able and necessary means of
Mine and Ours"), who moves solving problems. Oh, sure,
with his family from Iowa to it tries to go all noble on us by
Orlando. Suddenly, he's the giving each brawler a painful
new kid in school and immedi-
ately attracts the attention of
an attractive girl named Baja -
yes, Baja (Amber Heard, "Alpha Teenagers
Dog"). She soon invites him to
one crazy house party, com- partying and
plete with all the half-naked
girls and "teen partying" that fighting doesn't
a PG-13 rating will allow. It's at
the party where Jake discovers work at PG-13
the true passion of rich Orlando
teens: secret underground fight-
ing leagues where shirtless lads
engage in homoerotic, no-holds- back stories, usually involving
barred brawling. But don't call the absence of a good father
them "fight clubs" because that figure (maybe there's a connec-
term is probably trademarked. tion somewhere). Here's the
Unsurprisingly, the inexperi- kicker, though: At one point
enced Jake gets the crap kicked Jake randomly beats up a bunch
out of him by local d-bag Ryan of strangers on the side of the
(Cam Gigandet, "Who's Your road because they honked their
Caddy?").Afterbeinghumiliated car horn one too many times.
in front of the entire school, he Instead of being charged with
swears he will never fight again assault, Jake becomes a local
... but, of course, it becomes a hero as rumors of his strength
matter of honor, and he decides circulate throughout the school.
that maybe, just maybe, he can He never faces any negative
take Ryan down. All he needs is. consequences. Apparently the
a training montage. Cue "Team savage beat down is meant to be
America." seen as a character test to prove
It helps that the "wise grass- that Jake 'has what it takes.'
hopper" role is played by Djimon Does anyone else see a problem
Hounsou ("Blood Diamond"). As with this?
Psychedelic rock's heir
By ALEXANDER ITKIN
For the Daily
Although Howlin Rain has been
shoveled into the 'New Weird
America' genre along artists such
as Devendra
Banhart and
Joanna Newsom, ****
there's one thing
that Howlin Howlin Rain
Rain does differ-
ently than all the Fien
other weirdoes: Fiend
It rocks. Shed- Birdman
ding the cocoon
of post-rock and electronic that
shrouds so much of today's inde-
pendent music, Howlin Rain cre-
ates music deeply planted in the
roolsy psychedelia of the late '60n
and early '70s. Equal parts Grate-
ful Dead and Faces, Magnificent,
Fiend is filled with lengthy gui-
tar jams on a bed of country-rock
grooves.
Howlin Rain was formed as a
project of Comets on Fire guitar-
ist/singer Ethan Miller and Sun-
burned Hand of the Man leader
John Moloney in 2004. After their
self-titled debut in 2006, Moloney
left the band. Miller spent the fol-
lowing year writing new songs and
recruiting a quintet of Northern
California indie veterans to bring
what would become Magnificent
Fiend to life.
Magnificent Fiend focuses more
on the music than the lyrics. Never-
theless, Miller manages to squeeze
in his gloomy rhymes between
the numerous guitar and organ
solos. "We are only slaves / To our
ghostly arms and legs / Dancing
in our grave / Laid in the ruins of
the golden age," sings Miller on the
album highlight, "Calling Light-
ning, Pt2."
"Lord Have Mercy" starts with
the guys doingtheir bestPink Floyd
This group
would be a jam
band - if they
sucked
impersonations but quickly gives
way to a raucous romp of slicing
guitar solos, atmospheric organs
and an epic refrain complete with
choral flourishes. Not having the
guts to follow an all out assault
with another rocker, the next
song, "Nomads," is the album's
most mellow piece. Wallowing
in languid vibesand a bluesy
electric piano working its way
around Miller's sweet falsetto,
the song feels like summertime in
the South.
Tracks such as "El Rey" and
"Goodbye Ruby" indulge listen-
ers with funky horn arrangements
while "Riverboat" serves as good
recap of the whole album - a deli-
cate roots-rock tune turned psy-
chedelic guitar freak-out.
The songs on Magnificent Fiend
are long - all stretching over the
five-minute mark - but this is more
of a blessing than a curse. Howlin
Rain eschews the "jam band men-
tality" that can ruin songs three
minutes too early. There are many
solos but no noodling around.
Numerous dynamic changes keep
things interesting even at six min-
utes, and the band often displays
a prog-rock penchant not usually
seen in psychedelic rock.
Succeeding where bands like
The Darkness never could, Howlin
Rain combines an old sound with a Beardin it up.
new, weird American approach to
keep it fresh. Neil Young should The D
be proud.
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