Tag Archives: Game Boy Advance

Reign of Fire Review

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It’s time to look at an old Game Boy Advance game that I’ve had for a very long time. I finally managed to complete it the other day as I just barreled through the game from start to finish in 2 batches. It’s a game that definitely feels like a cash in and even embraces this, but still has some potential. There are fun aspects to the gameplay, but the overall product definitely needed more polish. In the end, this didn’t end up being a surprise hit or anything like that, but if you’re looking for a fun way to spend 2-4 hours, this is your ticket!

The story of the game roughly follows the movie, but it only contains the bare minimum requirements of a plot. The game starts off with characters yelling about supplies and that dragons are dangerous. You spend a few missions growing crops, destroying Dragon Eggs and adding more people to your crew. Rinse and Repeat for 9 missions. I was fully expecting one of the groups to betray the heroes since I feel like that happened in the film, but instead they all jump into the alliance wholeheartedly and say the exact same things. “Why fight each other when we can fight dragons?” They all seem so sincere that you will naturally be very suspicious the entire time. I know that I was! Still, you probably aren’t playing this game for the plot.

Instead you are playing this for the gameplay. It uses an overhead style similar to Marvel’s Ultimate Alliance. You have an unlimited ammo of missilles that work just like bullets as you mow down the legions of dragons that chase you down. You don’t have to worry about the flying ones as they will rarely even fire a single shot, but the ones on the ground are the tricky ones. The Red Dinos can fire off multiple fire blasts and your allies will typically get hit every time, leaving you to fend off the armies on your own. You can find health supplies along the route so use them whenever necessary. Most of the missions will involve you searching for something so follow the compass and you’ll hopefully be fine.

The core mechanics of this game don’t seem all that bad. Walking and shooting can work well as a decent, linear experience. Think Super Mario or Pac Man, the games are simple, but effective. The problem is the technical limitations of the game. For starters, you can’t run. The characters move very slowly while the environments are incredibly large and sparse. This makes for a bad combination since you can be walking for several minutes in a row. There’s a reason why they give you a full 30 minutes to complete each level after all. Furthermore, the compass is rarely accurate. As I just said, the levels are huge and there are mountains blocking off several paths.

Let’s say the compass is pointing straight down. You’ll start heading that way only to be stopped by a long row of mountains as far as the eye can see. You must now guess whether the path to get lower is right or left. Choose incorrectly and you won’t make it back within 30 minutes. You can literally spend that entire time just walking around. This is partially due to the fact that all of the levels seem to share the same map and each level covers a different part of town. If you make a wrong turn in level 6, you may wander into the level 1 area and that journey takes a very long amount of time. Personally, I’d say that each level should have had its own stage. At the very least, you shouldn’t be able to walk between them by mistake, that doesn’t seem right.

That part was easily the most frustrating aspect. It’s not as bad as a bad puzzle or anything like that, but it really does slow your momentum down. The game isn’t very difficult once you understand what to do, but the game really does leave you to your own devices right from the start. For example, I died in level 1 many times because I didn’t know how to enter the Harvestor vehicle. Once I found that out, it was smooth sailing and the rest of the levels were pretty easy. There actually is a final boss so that’s neat. You have to fight against a giant dragon. The anticlimactic part is the fact that this dragon isn’t really any stronger than the minions. It has a lot more health, but it won’t even try attacking you since it just burns houses in the meantime.

After completing the human’s campaign, you unlock Dragon Mode. I wish this had been around from the start since it is certainly a lot more fun than the first mode. Granted, I probably would have started with the humans anyway. The gameplay is similar except you play as a dragon so you can fly and you also have super speed while walking. That really fixes one of the big negatives that I had with the gameplay. It is a little lazy that all of the dragons have the same emoticon/facial picture though. It’s interesting to see things from their point of view. I only completed two of their levels and probably won’t go and beat the others anytime soon. It would be fun, but I have other games to play and spent enough time on this one.

It does help the replay value though. Make sure that you jot down the password saves after each level because you likely won’t be able to find them online and then you’d have to start all the way from the beginning again. I do wish that the game had a save feature and I’m glad that it has become the standard for games nowadays. It really can make a world of difference. I would like to quickly point out that one of the pictures used for one of the characters instantly reminded me of a twitch emote. I dunno, the resemblence may not be all that striking from this angle, but go to Twitch chats for a while and it will all start to make sense.
Emoticons

The graphics aren’t bad, but they’re not great either. The title didn’t put a whole lot of effort into the character models. Everything is clear in the sense that you can distinguish between all of the objects, but they do tend to be a little blurry and unrefined. The soundtrack is fairly limited although I did play most of the game on mute. I made sure to listen to it a little afterwards though. It’s just not all that special or spectacular and you may want to keep it off as the constant sound effects from shooting and all of the explosions make it a very loud experience.

Overall, It feels good to be done with this game once and for all. The first level had be worried that the game would be quite terrible, but it picked up quite a bit from there. It’s still not a great game or even a very good one, but it can at least hold its own now. I think you’ll enjoy playing it and the game should be up for sale at less than 5 dollars online. For that price, it’s a bargain to snag. There are around 18 levels if you play both campaigns so that should buy you enough time to make the purchase worth it. With this game gone, I’ll have to see which game takes the top priority spot next time. It may be time for Yugioh to make a comeback.

Overall 6/10

Tom & Jerry in Infurnal Escape Review

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All right, it’s time for the 1st Game Boy Advance review in a very long time. I won this one over at a Super Smash Bros tournament at a Friendly’s restaurant. I can’t believe nobody wanted the prize earlier. As a major video game collector and a fan of the Tom & Jerry franchise, I knew that this was my big moment. It’s a fairly short game and tends to feel like a cash in for part of the adventure, but once you get going the adventure starts to get more fun. It’s just a shame that the game really leaves you in the dark to figure things out for yourself.

The plot is fairly dramatic as Tom finds himself in Hell. To escape, he’ll have to save some souls and defeat the King of Evil. This will be tricky, but Tom’s no stranger to facing overwhelming odds. Unfortunately, Jerry is also here to get in his way, but Tom will not falter until the day is saved. This title is fairly short at 6 levels and it can be completed in around an hour. That’s part of what hurts this game’s chances of getting a 7. I can’t imagine buying this game for its full retail price. There’s no replay value either as there are no collectibles to be found. There isn’t even a continue as it is all password based. I recommend taking a picture of the password or writing it down after each level just in case.

The difficulty tends to fluctuate quite a bit and typically it can only be difficult because enemies escape your punches at times. You only have 3 health points at a time and once they are gone you have 2 minutes to find some souls. If you can’t do that then you get the game over screen. Typically it shouldn’t come to that though since souls are very easy to find. The game can get a little annoying when you have been searching for a while only to not actually find anything. The level won’t end until you’ve found most of the objective. (Typically a prisoner or a Dog Bone) The problem is that you don’t know most of the controls at first. For example, I didn’t know that you could climb the flagpoles until about 20 minutes had passed and you can’t complete the early levels without doing that.

Tom & Jerry is your average 2D side scroller game. It is also part puzzle as you have to go back and forth as you press switches since previously inaccessible areas become open as you go on. The game won’t tell you this, but you can throw your baseball bat and you can climb various objects. Make sure you fight carefully since getting hit by an opponent is typically very dangerous. You can also light your stick on fire by holding the R button which is also necessary to complete some levels. I learned that one through trial and error as well. The gameplay’s nothing special, but it’s not bad either. It serves its purpose as a side scroller.

The graphics are fairly decent for the GBA. I was also impressed with the cutscenes as I was not expecting a whole lot of those here. The cutscenes are shown through illustrations which is always a good way to go about this for the GBA. They all look sharp as a result. In game, the character models are fairly solid as well. Unfortunately, there isn’t much of a soundtrack to speak of. There is really just one theme which keeps on repeating over and over again. It’s not a particularly catchy tune either so the game loses out in this area. The developers certainly could have put in some more effort and thrown in more tunes.

There is only one boss in this game, which you fight at the very end. He is extremely easy so you should have no trouble with him. You simply punch him twice to make the boss fall down and then you go for another punch. Rinse and repeat around 5-6 times. It’s a lot quicker than it sounds and the whole thing will likely just take you a handful of minutes. The final boss design is quite good as well and it makes sense that a dog would be the final foe to stand in Tom’s way.

The ending is not surprising, but still rather odd. Tom is given a choice as he can spend eternity with a cat friend that he is always chasing around or going back to his life of getting beaten up by Jerry. Tom oddly chooses the latter. I’m not sure what the rationale there was. Maybe deep down he simply wants to catch Jerry more than he wants to hang out with the other cat. Tom can be quite competitive so I suppose that this decision isn’t completely out of the question. Still odd though.

Overall, This is a game that I certainly didn’t expect to be playing, but I’m glad that I got the chance too. It may not be revolutionary or even all that good, but it’s a decent way to spend an hour. I can add it to my game collection and that’s bragging rights enough. It definitely could have been longer and that’s really the main complaint that I have with it. Along with the fact that the game doesn’t bother to mention most of the controls either. If you’re looking for a fun little side scrolling adventure, then this game is for you. That being said, you’re better off getting the legendary Super Mario World. Now That was a very fulfilling video game and it has a lot more replay value as well.

Overall 6/10

The Invincible Iron Man Review

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After all these years, I finally got the classic GBA Iron Man game! I’ve always wanted to get this since this would essentially complete my Marvel collection and side scrollers are a blast. That being said, the game is even shorter than I would have thought. I knew about the length about a day before I purchased it, but it was still surprising. The game is easily under an hour and you’ll beat it right away. There’s not a whole lot to do post game either, which makes for an interesting concept.

The plot is that one of Tony’s relatives has broken into Stark Industries and stolen all of his armors. Tony is a little puzzeled at how easy this all was, but he takes it in stride and breaks out one of his original armors. Will it be enough to take back his armors and take down the likes of Crimson Dynamo and the Blizzard? One thing’s for sure, this will not be easy!!

As I mentioned, the game is quite short. There are 8 levels plus two bosses. Each level can be beaten in a fairly short amount of time, but rushing through the game is discouraged to an extent. There are moments where you can cheese the levels by running and jumping a lot, but sometimes that will lead you to tun in a circle and just waste time. The enemies are surprisingly powerful as well. There are no power ups to be found in the game so your health bar is very small. A few good attacks are enough to knock you out so slow and steady is typically the key here. Do that and you should be fine.

The bosses are fairly simple. The final one is just tricky until you figure out his gimmick. Once you do, he becomes one of the easiest bosses of all time. Just hit him with the Uni beam, jump over him and do it again and again and again. He will not be able to do anything and you’ll have beaten the final boss. Blizzard was a little more tricky since his ice attacks are no joke, but as long as you stop his regeneration, you’ll be okay.

The gameplay is fairly similar to the Spider Man games, but you can keep on shooting indefinitely. It’ll remind you of Vectorman at some points. You can store up some energy by holding the B button or you can just keep on pressing it to shoot the little beams. Make sure to duck a lot since that will help you evade a lot of enemy fire. It won’t be enough to stop them all, but a lot of them at least. You’ll expend energy whenever you fire a blast so expect your energy to be at 0 most of the time.

You can double jump and then boost, which lets you cross a large distance in a very short amount of time. It’s handy and if you get two power ups, you can emit an energy wave that destroys everything on the screen. It’s handy, but you won’t get that power up until about halfway through the game. That’s still a good 20 minutes though so not bad.

I’d say that the graphics are pretty good. These are GBA graphics that survive the test of time. Iron Man’s design is quite good and most of the enemies look like fun Terminators. Everything is clear and you can easily follow the action. The cutscenes are essentially illustrations with a little movement so I’m guessing that this had more of a budget than you may have suspected at first. Unfortunately, that didn’t equal into a very large soundtrack. Typically, you can expect to hear the same tunes many times, although they are not bad by any means. They’re fairly inspiring and at the very least, work well with the gameplay. The sound effects can be a little loud at times, but that’s just how it goes.

Really, the game’s a blast, but it does bring up the age old issue of whether length is really a factor. This game’s an easy 7 no questions asked if it had a decent length, but only 8 levels and it being under an hour is a little iffy. I always have a section for replay value, but it’s basically empty in this game. You can get the 7 pieces of artwork if you want I suppose, but that’s literally it and at most it can buy you a few hours, but if you search each level carefully, it could be less. I got one of them, but the other ones are typically hidden in little nooks and crannies. Not really worth it for me, but sometimes I do have fun with this kind of thing. Even without any other game in the back burner though, I can’t picture myself going back for the art pieces.

Overall, Iron Man was fun, but it is one of the shortest games that I’ve ever played. There are a few titles that are shorter like Rudolph, but this game is scary short. I can’t imagine buying this at the full retail price when it first came out back in the day. I can only imagine that a lot of people were very disappointed with it. Considering that I got the game for a few dollars, it’s not all that bad. I actually get thrilled when a game is short since it helps with the backlog, but naturally, length does typically make a game better as long as the levels have a good amount of quality. Take classics like KH II, FF XIII, or even Sonic Adventure 2 Battle to an extent. I still recommend this game, but you may be better off getting the Iron Man PS3 game.

Overall 6/10

Mario Pinball Land Review

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I’ve played most of the Mario games at this point so it’s always neat to finally play one of the elusive ones. I love pinball and I’ve had fun playing many variations of the game. Unfortunately, I wasn’t a big fan of Pokemon pinball and the Metroid Pinball game that I bought never actually worked. It’s the risk of buying used games, but only 1 in every 100 doesn’t work so it’s been a fair trade off. I’m happy to say that Nintendo once again showed that the extra effort they put in can pay off big. Mario Pinball Land isn’t your average Pinball game and chooses to alter the core gameplay a bit to make this more of a complete game. It comes at the expense of the old style where you would try for high scores, but that’s fine since it ends up making Pinball Land feel like more of a full Mario game.

Peach is kidnapped by mean ole Bowser so Mario makes the hero call and turns himself into a pinball. He’s taking the fight to Bowser now, but since he’s a ball and his friends launched him to a circus instead of the castle, it’ll be a long journey. Mario must now gather the four star keys to open the doors to the areas where he can really deal some damage to big bad Bowser. Can he make it in time or is he toast?

The gameplay is essentially pinball. You have two flippers and you must try to bounce Mario around. Unlike an average game of Pinball, there are typically 2 or more exits in the levels, which you can use to get to other parts of the world. When you want to leave, you must go to one of the pipes in the level. That part can be a little annoying as you can’t just pause and escape to the next world. You must make it to the pipe or die trying. Meanwhile, the pipe only shows up once you beat the boss of that world, which can be tricky. Your only other recourse is to get a game over, which takes you to the first world, where you should have a pipe since you must have beaten the first boss…right?

There are around 35 stars to obtain in the worlds, but you only need 15 to go and fight the final boss so that’s pretty lenient. You should get that amount as you wander through the levels, but don’t underestimate the doors. You’ll find yourself getting rolled to the next room whether you want to go or not, which can definitely get sad at times. I was actually surprised at the merciless difficulty within this game. It may be a Mario game, but don’t let that fool you into thinking that it’s an easy ride. This will require patience as the final boss took me around an hour or so. At one point, it took me 2 hours to get 4 stars because of how many times I would shoot past the enemies and have to redo the battle.

Each star is won by achieving certain feats. Typically, this involves defeating each of the enemies in a room or something like that. You’ll know if a room has a star because a star will glimmer for a split second as you enter. The enemies aren’t tough and the risks of falling through the level and losing a life are slim so it’s really just a matter of time. Eventually you will be able to secure the win and the whole game is auto save ready so that’s a nice plus.

The graphics are surprisingly good and Nintendo did a good job of giving each character 3D models. It’s sort of like playing Mario 64 portable with a different control scheme. Everything seems to be based off of that game and why not right? Mario 64 is still the ultimate Mario experience. So, the graphics aren’t just good, but very good. Meanwhile, the soundtrack is decent, but certainly less remarkable. I probably couldn’t tell you any of the themes from the game because they definitely were not all that memorable. It’s Pinball so that’s to be expected and the constant sound effects would distract you from that anyway.

Since the game is so tough, the duration isn’t as short as you would expect. Getting the 15 stars will take you some time unless you’re some kind of Pinball whiz. It’s a complete game and there’s a good amount of replay value as you can go back and try to get the rest of the stars. One important aspect of the game that will help you during the tough fights are the power ups that Toad gives…for a price. You pay him in coins and he can give power ups like Mushrooms, Lightning, or 1 Ups. Lightning is the best power up in my opinion as it destroys all enemies on the field. A perfect way to instantly get a star. The Star power up is also good since it makes you invincible and sometimes you can injure bosses that way instead of going through the actual fight.

Speaking of which, I actually believe that Mario Pinball has the toughest Mario final boss from any Mario title. That fight was seriously hard and I could not beat it at will. It may take less grinding than the final boss of a game like Mario and Luigi or Paper Mario, but once you get the level ups, then you’re set. In this fight, even though I know what to do, it would still probably take me a few more shots if I tried to complete it once more. Luckily, the second phase of the boss is pretty easy, which helps to balance that insane first part.

Aside from the replay value, I also feel like mentioning that Mario Pinball Land has difficulty that is fair. Some games (Finding Nemo) are tough, but for all the wrong reasons. Poorly explained puzzles, bad graphics, etc. Mario Pinball Land is tough, but the mechanics are all solid. Your reaction times just have to be on point and eventually you will be able to hit the ball where you want it to go. It’s all about player skill and none of that luck or puzzle nonsense. This is a game that leaves you feeling satisfied.

Overall, Mario Pinball Land is a great pinball game and probably the best one that I’ve played. It easily beats the Pokemon version and the Metroid one has not worked yet so I can’t say for sure, but I’m pretty sure that it beats that one. I finally got it to work earlier today so I may play it a bit for a review later on. I definitely recommend Mario Pinball Land. It’ll give you a nice challenge and it’s still close enough to the real Pinball game so that Pinball fans can enjoy it. It’s a very unique Mario game and one where you can feel proud of yourself upon completing it.

Overall 7/10

The King of Fighters Ex 2 Howling Blood Review

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This is one of those games that has a story behind it! I actually purchased the game quite a few years ago. The problem was that I had to wait until I purchased the first game. It took a while, but I pulled that off about a year ago….only this game would not work. Since it had been so long since I purchased it at Gamestop, I couldn’t get a refund. That was all right, Game Boy Advance games are some of the greatest of all time. They will eventually start to work and I would be ready! Finally, that day came…and I was ready!

When the game started to work I knew that I had to seize my opportunity. I quickly beat the game with the first team. There’s not really much of a story mode here of course as it’s your standard Arcade Mode. It uses a 3 on 3 system (Not at once of course. It’s 1 on 1 and you move on when your teammates are defeated) and there are 21 fighters, which makes for 7 teams. That being said, just about all of the story modes play out in almost the same way. The first game was infamous in that fashion as I beat it well over a dozen times only to see the exact same cutscenes and identical dialogue from the villains. No matter what the new hero would say, the villain would just go on a tangent. I don’t know if it was that similar here, but definitely close to that.

That being said, it didn’t even matter. See, the game had to have the last laugh. The cartridge was in Japanese for some reason and there’s no way to switch the language setting. It’s safe to say that I was mind blown as I could not actually read any of the dialogue in the “story mode.” The game must have been laughing a little too hard as the next time I put it in, the game had stopped working. I could probably try to revive it once again, but there’s no real reason to do so. I got what I came for as I beat Arcade Mode once. There’s little reason to beat it 6 more times, especially considering that the dialogue is in Japanese.

There’s no real replay value here except for just battling computers or hoping that someone else has a GBA with the game. Beating Arcade Mode with the 7 teams should take you about 3 hours or so. The game’s definitely not a long one so you will be done with it in no time! Since it only goes for a few dollars or so in person and a little more online, I’d say that it’s still worth the purchase. Just make sure that your game has the right language setting or you’re toast!

The graphics and soundtrack are essentially identical to the first game. This is one of those games that you could really believe is just a recoloring of the first title as they are that similar. The sprites are just about the same and likewise with all of the combos. I’d say that the graphics have aged decently well and I’ve always been a good fan of the classic sprites. They really made you feel involved in the game and the fast soundtrack makes the fights more enjoyable. The soundtrack isn’t very memorable, but it gets the job done and you’ll be ready to crush the competition!

As for the gameplay, it’s your standard Street Fighter styled way to fight. You can throw out some quick attacks or just more powerful ones that are easier to dodge. Every character has some special attacks and you can also have an ally jump in to help you out when you’re in a pinch. The gameplay is fun and very easy to get used too. It’s hard to picture myself ever going up against experienced fighters in this one though as I find the controls to be a little hard to grasp. It’s a pure button masher for me so I just press everything and wait until I win. If that doesn’t work, then rinse and repeat the process until it does!

There’s not much more to say about this game. As I mentioned, there’s really nothing to do after Arcade Mode except to maybe enter Vs and have a little fun there. Beyond that….it’s basically Game Over. Still, I definitely won’t be forgetting this game anytime soon thanks to the epic story behind it. The game may have had its laughs, but I still managed to beat the game before it powered down again so I count this as a perfect victory. I haven’t played many King of Fighter games at this point, but I look forward to challenging more in the future. I’m always up for a fighting game after all and sometimes trying out a classic with no real gimmicks like this one is the thing to do when you need to get back into the genre! (Of course, Super Smash Bros literally blows the genre apart on its own)

Overall, King of Fighters Ex 2 Howling Blood is a solid game. If you bought both of the GBA games at the same time then you would probably be a little disappointed as it is essentially the same game in a new wrapper. I don’t even think that they increased the character count all that much and it may have even gotten lower. That being said, I certainly haven’t unlocked anyone so there are probably 1-2 more guys to unlock. If you want to play a fighting game from the old days, then this is definitely the title for you. There can be unlimited replay value if you really like the gameplay so it all rides on that. With this game down, it’ll be time to go back to the Legend of Kay and maybe some MnM’s as well.

Overall 7/10

Beyblade VForce Ultimate Blader Jam Stats and Records

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Stats time!

Stage Stats Time Completed- Items

Episode 1
1-1 3.87s 1/1
1-2 10.48s 0/2
1-3 12.99s 0/1
1-4 29.34s 0/1
1-5 13.21s 0/1
1-6 14.38s 0/1
1-7 31.58s 0/1

Episode 2
2-1 16.88s 0/2
2-2 14.33s 0/1
2-3 13.07s 0/1
2-4 25.04s 0/1
2-5 16.46s 0/1
2-6 25.58s 0/1
2-7 47.32s 1/2

Episode 3
3-1 31.36 0/1
3-2 18.92 0/2
3-3 5.20s –
3-4 31.36s 0/1
3-5 46.24s 0/1
3-6 8.24s –
3-7 35.18s 1/2

Episode 4
4-1 23.16s 0/2
4-2 43.74s 0/2
4-3 13.10s 0/1
4-4 32.04 0/4
4-5 26.81s 0/3
4-6 24.52s 0/2
4-7 22.91s 1/1

Episode 5
5-1 31.60s 0/1
5-2 53.56s 0/2
5-3 34.33s 0/2
5-4 40.01s 0/2
5-5 34.92s 0/4
5-6 21.21s 0/2
5-7 57.31s 1/3

Episode 6
6-1 31.44s 0/4
6-2 1m 11s 2/5
6-3 9.87s 0/1
6-4 1m 16s 1/4
6-5 34.81s 0/2
6-6 43.07s 1/3
6-7 9.74s –

Episode 7
7-1 53.63s 0/3
7-2 38.22s 1/5
7-3 19.29s 0/1
7-4 44.89s 0/1
7-5 35.16s 0/2
7-6 1m 12s 0/2
7-7 23.84s –

Beyblade VForce Ultimate Blader Jam Review

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I haven’t played a Beyblade game in a very long time. I’ll admit that I’ve missed it as Beyblade is easily one of the greatest franchises that I have yet to really get into. Although, I suppose that playing the games and reading the manga should count as getting myself formally introduced to the franchise. It’s a lot of fun and I enjoyed the first game a lot so I was looking forward to this one. The gameplay is radically different from the Gamecube title and can’t quite match up, but it’s still fun and fairly original. The only game that I can think of, which is pretty similar to this one would be Monkey Ball and those games have less action.

The plot is a little all over the place because the game has to cover a whole bunch of episodes in a relatively short amount of time. Tyson and his friends are the world champions of Beyblade. They were on top of the world, but that’s when the new villains decide to strike. Tyson and his friends are actually defeated by these new players and must train hard in order to surpass them. The problem is that there are also two villain groups to watch out for. These guys try to steal the animal spirits that reside within the Beyblades and that makes each duel a matter of life and death. The Earth and maybe even the whole universe could be forfeit if we are not careful. Tyson’s going to have to step up his game if he wants to win.

The cutscenes don’t always mesh well with the gameplay. For example, a cutscene will end with Tyson about to fight someone and then the next level will be a standard “Reach the goal” stage. The boss fight will end up being in the next battle instead. The cutscenes also seem to come at random points and a lot of battles happen off screen. The actual plot is still fun though and Tyson learns that illegally modifying his Beyblade is not a good idea. He has to win like a main character and that’s what he ends up doing. It solidifies the fact that the Beyblade shows are definitely very good.

The soundtrack is very catchy as they seem to have thrown in one of the theme songs or at least a lyrical piece that fits well with the gameplay. It can be hard to hear what they are saying, but there are very few GBA games that have the budget needed to put in a full song so that’s neat. By the end of the game, you’ll have heard it many times and will be ready to recite the beat from memory. It gave the game a little extra boost of excitement.

As for the graphics, they certainly aren’t anything special, but they’re not bad either. They’re simple and to the point. The backgrounds are all fairly distinct and you can tell which Beyblade you are playing as at all times. The game does seem to have a bit of a low budget though as there aren’t many character models. It just reuses the same pictures constantly in the cutscenes and likewise with the gameplay. The game is still easy to look at so I’ll count it as a win in my book.

Now, let’s finally take a look at the gameplay. As I mentioned earlier, it’s very similar to Monkey Ball. The game is looked at from an overhead view and you have to roll the Beyblade to the end of the course. There are a lot of tight turns so you want to take your time, but you also need to go a little quickly towards the end if you want to beat the “par” time. It’s not necessary, but that’s how you unlock the bonus levels. There will occasionally be minions that you can fight by bumping them off the stage or until they top spinning or you can just skip them. I advise just avoiding the fights unless you need to bump into the other Beyblades to get through.

Boss fights are extremely easy to the point where I wonder if the developers thought about them. Maybe the gameplay just didn’t work very well in that area. The bosses are just other tops that are slightly bigger than yours and you smash them until they stop spinning. It’s extremely easy as bumping into them is all that you need to do to win. Typically, you can win these levels in around 20-30 seconds with ease. The final boss is very anticlimactic because he is no stronger than any of the other bosses. You can just apply the same strategy and still win on your very first try.

There’s not a whole lot of replay value to be found here. You can replay the levels again to try and reach the par time and unlock the bonus levels. Furthermore, you can go through all of the levels and gather the items. Beyond that, there’s not much else to do. The gameplay is a lot of fun so you can work on your hand eye coordination by playing the levels. It takes a lot of concentration not to fall while you are on the tougher levels. It’s one of the reasons why this style of game is so good because it does feel like you are actually improving as you play it.

I got the game for around a dollar at Gamestop and I can safely say that I am pleased with my purchase. It’s certainly not as good as the Gamecube title, but it was a fun ride and it lasted for most of a car trip. The game was probably around 60-90 minutes in length although it could take a little longer if you end up getting stuck on any of the levels. You will never be stuck for very long though as you are almost guaranteed to be able to find a way past the stage as you continue to give it a shot. The items and enemies don’t move around so repetition will help you find out what the best strategy is.

Overall, Beyblade VForce was a fun game. I almost forgot that I had it in the backlog for a while and it was merely by chance that I finally got to give it a whirl. I definitely won’t be forgetting this classic anytime soon. It was a good game and while it is very short, you can get it for a very good price so I’d recommend taking the plunge. I aim to buy the next game at some point in the future, but until then it’s back to Flip’s Twisted World! Perhaps the extra experience with precision has also helped to sharpen my mind to solve all of Flip’s mysteries. We shall see!

Overall 7/10