lol I knew I was going to be called out on that.

The thing is, after playing the adventure mode in Brawl, I came away feeling Sakurai tends to re-use his ideas a bit too often. 

Hopefully we can both agree that mode was no more than a Kirby clone, and not a very good one at that.

But to take it further, many of the stages and mechanics of regular multiplayer Smash are also directly related to Kirby in terms of both level design and controls/move-sets for the characters, not to mention almost every other element borrowed from one Nintendo franchise or another!
Face it, Smash is not exactly an original game, nor was it ever meant to be.

I admire Sakurai's huge ambitions, and willingness to include features that are usually absent from games Nintendo is used to making - such as online, third person arena combat, etc - but my humble opinion is that he still has to work on nailing the fundamentals of what makes a game simultaneously fun and unique.

Also, one more comment in Sterling's defence - this isn't specifically a reply to you Salnax - it does say the following next to his score:

"Final Verdict:
5.0 

Mediocre: 5s are an exercise in apathy, neither Solid nor Liquid. Not exactly bad, but not very good either. Just a bit "meh," really. Basically, this is like a "7" on your grandfather's blog."

the man is at least aware of a tendancy to exxagerate, either by himself or by the rest of the reviewers on the web

That would explain why they have exclusive rights to sell Xenoblade and Crush 3D.

Honestly, fuck GameStop.  I hope they go bankrupt in a few years.

I'm left handed, and every review I've seen so far has basically said lefties just shouldn't bother trying to play it. As such I'm probably going to end up agreeing with this score if I do buy it.

Some thoughts.

The aggregate scores for the game are 83 (Gamerankings) and 84 (Metacritic). Gamexplain is not counted (currently) in either number -- nor is Famistu (or any Japanese review). [Speaking of the Gamexaplain review, I thought I had seen elsewhere that Kid Icraus has a stylus free control scheme -- which may make some of the complaints in that review moot.).

I have not listened to Jim Sterling's review, but from my examination of his past work, he is not to be taken seriously, in my opinion. I find his work over-the-top at best and trollish and uninformed at worst. And I find his persona to be revolting, in my opinion.

This brings me to my last point -- reviews are at least part opinion as to whether or not someone liked and/or it worked for them. Movies, TV shows, books, music all have much more varied reviews because different people have different tastes and opinions. When video gaming reaches that point -- and we realize that these are opinions and they can be given and taken as such (rather than as referendums on the game or trolling attempts for attention), then the medium will have progressed.

Mike from Morgantown

I love how you completly ignored Salnax's comment and continued with your GS paranoid hatred. Bravo

Yea, I was on a rampage earlier.  I needed a censor but I passed out shortly after my rampage.  Apparently, I should just stay away from alcohol for good...  My GameStop hate is high and it comes out of me.  I've had to "deal" with this store ever since they bought Funcoland.  You can buy Xenoblade and Crush 3D from Amazon can't you?  I preordered Xenoblade and Kid Icarus through GS recently for some reason.  I should have just gone through Amazon for Kid Icarus.  The only reason why Amazon isn't that big of a deal for these titles is that there usually isn't that much of a discount on brand new releases.  GS prices on anything else (older "new" titles and used games) is pathetic.  I believe they still have Mario Kart DS used for $30.

No you cant...what part of "exclusive" was not clear? You can order directly from Ninty though, for Xenoblade, not sure about Crush. I deal with GS, because I honestly they are the only chain of stores that deal with JUST video games and I like going to the store to buy my games, although I do use AMAZON from time to time. Yes there is Walmart and the like but they suck. Your not gonna find things like TalesOF or Bit.Trip at those stores. I agree that there pricing is all over the place, but saying things like they have an agenda against Ninty when there is evidence completly contrary comes off as juvenile paranoia and/or ignorance IMHO

All I can say if you deserve it for being a lefty... 

Seems like the biggest complaint about this game are the controls. Honestly, I've never been bothered by a games control scheme before. Even games that people say "the controls make it not worth playing". I just don't understand how the controls can make a game bad. All i can say is "get used to it". That's just me though. I do think the game looks great and i can't wait to play it.