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The Daily OrangePower struggle Bakugan: Battle Brawlers offers gamers repetitive reenactment of popular T.V. show
By Anthony Jondreau
Posted: 10/28/09, 2:15 AM EST Section: Joystick
Bakugan: Battle Brawlers
Grade: D
Based on the popular television show of the same name, "Bakugan: Battle Brawlers" for Sega Toys provides a surprisingly entertaining experience for fans of the show. The story has a typical good-versus-evil plot and is relatively short, but entertaining. However, game play is the most important part of any game, and although Bakugan does a decent job in representing the action in this regard, overall it is too repetitive.
Battles consist of players placing gate cards on the field then, taking turns, they try to land their Bakugan (balls that open up into creatures) on one of these cards. During the roll, they can be controlled to pick up power ups. Once on cards, there are two ways to win, by either landing two of your Bakugan on the same card or by winning a battle. A battle begins when two opposing Bakugan land on the same Gate Card. The card gives a G-power bonus to each Bakugan. G-power helps to decide who wins: the Bakugan with the higher G-power wins.
Ability cards can be played to increase G-power, and then the battle begins. Battles consist of three mini-games that can increase G-power. There is a timing battle, in which buttons need to be pressed as their icons cross a certain part of the screen (it's very similar to Guitar Hero). A power battle involves shaking thumbstick controllers side-to-side or up-and-down and a shooting battle, which involves targeting your Bakugan's attribute and shooting it. These also increase G-power, and at the end of the battle, the Bakugan with the most G-power wins the gate card, and the first player to win three cards wins the match.
The system isn't bad - it has some original ideas and works well, but that is essentially all there is to the game. So it becomes repetitive very quickly. Controlling your Bakugan during the throw to pick up power-ups adds strategy, but is usually unnecessary. The mini-games to determine battles are good, but there are only three, causing land battles to play out the same as the power battle. Also, your opponent is never very good at the mini-games, and you can easily overcome a 150 G-power deficit. This leads to domination by the player and a game that loses its luster very quickly. It doesn't do anything poorly; it just doesn't do much period.
The graphics are inspired by the TV show and have a cartoonish feel, and the voice acting isn't bad. Animations are somewhat lacking, however, and leave a bit to be desired. Ambient sounds, especially during battles, are also repetitive and can quickly get annoying.
The story is short. I beat it in six hours, but there is a little replay value to it. After the main story is over, there are three other tournaments to play in, with achievements for collecting every Bakugan and every card. Overall, though, there probably aren't more than 15 hours of game play on the disc.
If you are a fan of the show, you will probably find a lot to like about this game, but it's probably worth a weekend rental just to try something different. It has a few moments that make it unique and it does some things well, but ultimately it just doesn't do enough to stay fresh.
arjondre@syr.edu
Grade: D
Based on the popular television show of the same name, "Bakugan: Battle Brawlers" for Sega Toys provides a surprisingly entertaining experience for fans of the show. The story has a typical good-versus-evil plot and is relatively short, but entertaining. However, game play is the most important part of any game, and although Bakugan does a decent job in representing the action in this regard, overall it is too repetitive.
Battles consist of players placing gate cards on the field then, taking turns, they try to land their Bakugan (balls that open up into creatures) on one of these cards. During the roll, they can be controlled to pick up power ups. Once on cards, there are two ways to win, by either landing two of your Bakugan on the same card or by winning a battle. A battle begins when two opposing Bakugan land on the same Gate Card. The card gives a G-power bonus to each Bakugan. G-power helps to decide who wins: the Bakugan with the higher G-power wins.
Ability cards can be played to increase G-power, and then the battle begins. Battles consist of three mini-games that can increase G-power. There is a timing battle, in which buttons need to be pressed as their icons cross a certain part of the screen (it's very similar to Guitar Hero). A power battle involves shaking thumbstick controllers side-to-side or up-and-down and a shooting battle, which involves targeting your Bakugan's attribute and shooting it. These also increase G-power, and at the end of the battle, the Bakugan with the most G-power wins the gate card, and the first player to win three cards wins the match.
The system isn't bad - it has some original ideas and works well, but that is essentially all there is to the game. So it becomes repetitive very quickly. Controlling your Bakugan during the throw to pick up power-ups adds strategy, but is usually unnecessary. The mini-games to determine battles are good, but there are only three, causing land battles to play out the same as the power battle. Also, your opponent is never very good at the mini-games, and you can easily overcome a 150 G-power deficit. This leads to domination by the player and a game that loses its luster very quickly. It doesn't do anything poorly; it just doesn't do much period.
The graphics are inspired by the TV show and have a cartoonish feel, and the voice acting isn't bad. Animations are somewhat lacking, however, and leave a bit to be desired. Ambient sounds, especially during battles, are also repetitive and can quickly get annoying.
The story is short. I beat it in six hours, but there is a little replay value to it. After the main story is over, there are three other tournaments to play in, with achievements for collecting every Bakugan and every card. Overall, though, there probably aren't more than 15 hours of game play on the disc.
If you are a fan of the show, you will probably find a lot to like about this game, but it's probably worth a weekend rental just to try something different. It has a few moments that make it unique and it does some things well, but ultimately it just doesn't do enough to stay fresh.
arjondre@syr.edu
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