I have a troubled history with fighting games. Whilst I enjoy the visceral, cartoonish bloodletting provided by the Mortal Kombat series, it's always annoyed me that a skilled and practiced players' efforts can usually be recreated by randomly mashing buttons. However, there are two series' of fighting games that definitely don't fall foul of this problem: Soul Calibur and Smash Bros.

The Smash Bros. ethos is surprisingly simple; take a number of characters from various franchises (usually Nintendo ones) and pit them against each other on a 2D battlefield. Smash Bros. was the game of choice for owners of the N64 and the Gamecube because of its unmatched fun factor and because it finally settled the question of who would win in a four way contest between Mario, Kirby, Samus and Pikachu. Now, after a long, long wait, Smash Bros. has finally made it onto the Wii - except it hasn't, has it, because over here in Europe, we have to wait until 27TH JUNE to get a game that is already up and running, already translated into English and already selling by the bucketload in the States. Nintendo have a reputation for needlessly delaying the release of titles in Europe and it looks like this latest generation of hardware isn't going to change that - it's a minor miracle that Mario Kart arrived when it did, although it doesn't make Brawl's insane delay any more acceptable.

Although the constant delays may be unforgivably annoying, when you do finally get hold of Brawl, it's worth it. The game looks absolutely fantastic; you'll be astonished that a game could look this good on the Wii. I wouldn't be ashamed to say that SSBB is one of the best-looking games I've ever played, and that is coming from a man who's played Crysis at maximum visual settings. From a technical standpoint, Brawl doesn't wow you in the same way that Crysis and the like do - there are no fancy tricks like HDR or complex shadows. The beauty of the game comes from the design of the characters, the animation and the cartoony yet complex graphical style. The sound design is no less excellent, with meaty punches and explosions, but special mention must go to the music. Main themes from all the major franchises on show (Zelda, Kid Icarus, Mario, F-Zero, Starfox and Kirby, to name but a few) have been recreated faithfully and you are constantly unlocking more classic tracks as you go.

Most of the game is quite overwhelming the first time you play it; if you first play Brawl with three other players then the chances are that you won't have a clue what's going on. The characters are easy to identify in theory, but when the fighting really kicks off, all the special effects and snazzy level designs make it hard for the uninitiated to work out what on earth is happening. For this reason it's a better plan to begin with the single player campaign - The Subspace Emissary - at least until you get your bearings. This campaign tells the story of a mysterious force invading a world that consists entirely of heroes and villains from the various franchises included in Brawl. The playable characters team up in a series of beautifully animated cut scenes and attempt to hunt down whoever or whatever is causing the chaos. The levels of The Subspace Emissary take the form of side scrolling platforms, populated by various enemies ranging from the Koopas from Mario to Ridley from the Metroid series. The campaign is a great place to learn the ins and outs of the gameplay and is surprisingly deep, also providing entertaining combinations of characters to play with. Samus teams up with Pikachu on a spaceship for instance, whilst Link wanders past Yoshi in the forest and the two decide to go out and beat up bad guys together. It may read like fan fiction on paper, but it's dealt with in a surprisingly mature manner whilst including a pleasing amount of humour.

The controls are simple and easy to get used to, but at no point will you be using the Wiimote's motion sensors. The controls consist entirely of analogue sticks/d-pad and hitting buttons, which may seem like an odd decision at first, but Mortal Kombat: Armageddon proved that the inclusion of motion controls in a game like this is a fatal error. Once you've mastered the controls and have a faint idea of what's going on, the game makes much more sense. In multiplayer the idea is to bash multiple opponents with a variety of normal and special moves until they are weak enough to knock them out of the map entirely. Items such as Pokéballs and laser swords appear periodically and can be used to effectively counter any player that is dominating.

A typical game begins with you and three chums selecting your characters and then choosing an arena to fight on. These arenas range from simple three-platform stages to intricate recreations of Link's ship from Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. The twist in that particular level comes when the ship crashes into a rock at a random point during the level and begins to sink, making it a fight to survive as well as a standard brawl. After a three-second countdown at the start of the level, each player selects which of his opponents he least likes the look of and lets fly with punches, kicks and special attacks - and while the punches and kicks are more or less the same for each character, the variety come in those wonderful specials. Yoshi can eat people with his huge tongue and leave them trapped in an egg for a few seconds, while Kirby flits about the map like the weird pink cloud thing he is until over his target of choice, whereupon he turns into a brick and crushes them. Other characters dodge these moves or use a partially destructible shield to defend themselves then counter by throwing their attacker or using a special move of their own. It may sound simple, but with four players going at it, as well as the environmental hazards presented by each stage, it becomes very manic very quickly. Brawl offers quite a unique experience within the fighting genre because it doesn't force you to learn a seventy-two-page list of special moves for each character; the emphasis is on instant action and accessibility, as well as tremendous fun and great visual and audio flair.

The really beautiful thing about the multiplayer, though, is that almost everything is customizable. You can choose which items you want to appear and exclude the rest, you can alter the scoring system, give players handicaps, play with various special conditions - there's even a level editor. The ethos of Brawl is to let you enjoy the game the way you want, which further enhances a fun factor that's already through the roof and into orbit.

Perhaps the most impressive feature of Brawl though is the character roster. Mario, Pikachu, Link, Zelda, Fox, Falco, Ness, Marth, Pikachu, Donkey Kong and many more are all present and correct, but it's the new additions that make Brawl extra special - Pit (from Kid Icarus) Snake (from Metal Gear Solid) and Sonic. Unfortunately, while Sonic is available, his entrance is not one that has given me much joy; as a playable character he is nothing short of superb, but he is locked by default and in order to unlock him, you must complete The Subspace Emissary.

"What's the big deal?" you're probably wondering. "Complete the single player campaign - you've all ready told us it's fun so what's the problem?" Well, the bit I didn't yet tell you is that the last level of the campaign is one of the worst levels I've ever come across. It's called The Great Maze and its name should give you a clue as to it entails. You need to find thirty-two hidden doors across forty "rooms", which are linked by other doors, some of which are hidden, some of which aren't. You are given a map that shows where all the doors are, but only after you've already completed three quarters of the maze. What is worse is that the "rooms" consist entirely of stages that you've already played. They're not small either; you'll be constantly backtracking to try and find doors that you've missed. There is no reason for this level to exist other than to make the campaign about six hours longer than it needs to be and to massively frustrate anyone playing through it to the point of suicide. It was only after some heavy reference to a walkthrough that I finally managed to finish it. This wouldn't be too bad if you could unlock characters like Jiggly Puff, Toon, Link and Sonic easily without completing the campaign, but the assumption is made that if you don't make it through this hulking morass of a level, you're trying to do things the hard way and must take part in four hundred offline multiplayer matches.

Thankfully, though, for every downside to the game, there is an upside. The epic quest to unlock Sonic is more than made up for by the presence of an online multiplayer mode, a first for this series. Whilst not quite as comprehensive as Mario Kart Wii's mode, it is still very easy to use and guarantees you access to like-minded players at any time of the day or night. Another downside can be found in the new stages in Brawl, some of which are a little too visually overwhelming for players to easily assess the state of play, but this is compensated for by the inclusion of a selection of stages from past Smash Bros. Games, as well as the stage editor, which is sure to turn out some great new designs over the coming months.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl offers incredible value for money - there are masses of characters, levels and game modes to explore, the music is fantastic, the gameplay is superb and the production values are through the roof. The amount of content on offer means that you'll still be playing this game years from now - just like other entries in the series. It even has proper online multiplayer, for those who are interested. All this adds up to an essential purpose for anyone who enjoys local multiplayer and comes highly recommended even for those that don't. This is the kind of game that the Wii was made for - long lasting, highly entertaining, accessible and addictive fun for casual and hardcore gamers alike.

Reviewed by Mike Morwood for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).