Super Smash Bros. Brawl

First, you people should know that I suffered for you. Do you have any idea how thick the nerdiness was at EB Games when I picked up my copy of this at midnight? Even I was choking on the dorkosity in the air. It was terrible!

All jokes aside, this game is nothing innovative. It's Smash Bros. Melee with better graphics. So, if you liked the first one, then it's more of a good thing. If you didn't . . . well, I hear they're coming out with another Cooking Mama game for you.

New things? Well, the new "Adventure Mode" has a story, and it's pretty good for a fighting game. The game might be quite a bit harder than last time. Or perhaps I'm just rusty from not having played in such a long time. Who knows, right?

There's the ability to make custom levels. I haven't messed with that yet, but I'm excited to try my hand at it.

One thing I like is that the game gives you hints at how to unlock new stuff. Characters, not so much, but you can earn hints on unlocking new trophies, music, and levels, which is helpful for those of us too lazy to log on to Gamefaqs.com and find the answer.

Of course, the most significant change: Online play. I've only been on once to play against others, but it's pretty much what you would expect. Four man throw-down on a level picked by someone from the group (you don't know whose choice until you start). The lag time was pretty obnoxious, but that could be my obnoxiously slow DSL. Some people are complaining about the anonymity of the match-ups (no finding preferred opponents later on) and the lack of voice chat. I can live without those things, I guess, since I'd mainly want voice chat for playing with my friends, in which case there's always the telephone.

Final verdict: If you were a fan before, buy it. If you don't like fighting games . . . go play checkers.

And I'm very disappointed they didn't make Megaman a character.