OK, having fully played the SSE mode I am ready to offer my thoughts...
The mode does indeed suck. Its a tad better than the single player adventure modes seen in other fighting games (I'm looking at you, Tekken!)....but not by much. In fact, it suffers from many of the problems commonly found in these modes, and here's a rundown:
1. Lame/annoying enemies: These are perhaps some of the worst enemies I have ever seen in a videogame. They are supposed to be part of an army made of the same substance, but they are all over the place. The Brawl team should have taken a cue from Square's Kingdom Hearts and make the SSE army a lot like the Heartless army; be wild in their design but make them look like they belong on the same team.
But what truly kills me is how greatly annoying they are on the harder levels. Some of them are insanely cheap! And the game loves to throw many of them at once. I swear I almost threw the controller across the room in frustration due to how ridiculous these enemies are.
2. Annoying level design: I admit, I thought the levels were cool, especially on the first levels. But afterwards they are an exercise in patience as they are very bland, boring and un-inspired. Seriously, we are playing a NINTENDO ALL STARS GAME! Shouldn't we be visiting levels based on Mario, Zelda, Pokemon and such? I know that this is an alternate trophy world, but really!
And the Great Maze level? WORST...LEVEL...EVER! Really, WHY did Sakurai and his team throw in this really tedious final level? Its like they ran out of ideas for a cool final level and instead decided to throw the player around the same, boring levels they already endured, throw in even more enemies and force them to repeat every single boss battle and character battle in the game.
3. The SSB engine DOES NOT WORK AS A PLATFORMING ENGINE: Did anyone on the development ever team realize this? In fact, when playing through the mode I remembered one of the reasons the adventure mode in Melee was lame; the SSB engine does not work as an adventure and platforming engine. Once you do a third jump the character can't jump anymore until he or she lands. This can kill your character if you miss a platform in a level. Plus, it just made the controls feel very awkward, especially for climbing ladders and jumping using springs.
The ending now sucks even harder, especially since I endured a rather long and tedious level in order to get it.
So overall, I am left wondering "Considering Sakurai's dream was to make an expanded single player adventure, this is the best that he and his team could come up with?" Lord knows how many online features, characters, stages and items were sacrificed just so work on this mode could be finished in time of the game's release.
The really pretty cutscenes and "story" does not make the mode even more appealing. The decision to use the fighting engine as a platformer, annoying enemies and terrible level design make the SSE mode yet another mode that developers tried to shoehorn into the game, but failed to live up to the standards set by the main game.
If there's a SSB 4, the SSE shouldn't be brought back. Or at the very least, given a massive overhaul.
It's of note that it's not just a fighting game engine that it's running on. They gimped the characters so they jump lower and run slower. SSB:B's SSE characters jump lower and run slower in the stages, and then go back to full form when fighting another character or a boss. Why would they make things worse in this mode? I've got no idea, but I find it pretty lame, and it makes the platforming, fighting, and adventuring increasingly tedious.
Topic: The Subspace Emissary Sucks (Read 49530 times)
