Stats time!
Play Time 3h 6m
31/50 Emblems
Stage Ranks and collectibles
Stage 1 S 1/1
Stage 2 S 0/2
Stage 3 S 1/3
Stage 4 B 0/2
Stage 5 A 0/2
Stage 6 S 0/2
Stage 7 A 0/2
Stage 8 S 1/2
Stage 9 S 0/1
Stage 10 S 1/1
Stage 11 A 0/1
Stage 12 S 1/1
Stage 13 S 1/1
Transformers has had a pretty great track record for video games. The War For Cybertron series always promises exciting gameplay with a good story and even the movie tie in titles have been very good. Naturally, the stand alone game for the Armada series was great since it mixed in the fun gameplay with some fun forest levels. Transformers Prime is no different and it is a very fun game, albeit a little short.
The plot certainly does start off like a classic episode. A Dark Energon spike has appeared so the Autobots arrive to see what’s happening. Megatron and Prime have their usual scuffle until the gang is separated. The Autobots will need to regroup to see just what is going on, but the Decepticons have their eyes on the kids. Meanwhile, an old Decepticon of legend has awakened and he wants to destroy the Matrix. Optimus Prime better watch his back!
The gameplay is a lot more combat centered than previous titles. Just about every Transformers game has the option to get in close and personal, but the emphasis is still on blasting your opponent away into oblivion. Blasting is really just a side option in this game although it’s very useful. I tend to use it quite often as the damage builds up pretty quickly. It’s also fun because it’s not the main option. It’s hard to describe, but you just feel the blasts more and it’s more fun to use than in the normal titles. As for the hand to hand combat, it’s what you would expect. You have two different ways to attack and you can string them together to unleash some solid combos. You can quickly enter an awakened mode that allows you to deal extra damage and unleash longer combos.
Naturally, changing into a vehicle is still an option and your blasters do even more damage in that mode. You can tell that the gameplay is not very balanced like in the TMNT game for Gamecube though. There are times when you know that the game wants you to use hand to hand to beat an opponent, but then you just switch to blasters and it still works. It takes a little longer to deal the same damage as a fist attack, but it’s almost equaled out since the enemies don’t fall down as often this way. I just loved blasting away and it’s especially useful when you’re outnumbered since the opponents can’t gang up on you. You can also make a barrier to block energy blasts and you can unleash slow power attacks that can break through a shield. I highly recommend using that only when it is mandatory.
Thunderwing is the new villain for the game and he’s not bad. He’s definitely pretty generic though and he doesn’t have a whole lot of character. He was pretty tough back in his day and he’s still proud of that, but you can’t say much more about him. His design is actually really good, but he’s pretty large so he doesn’t actually get to fight. He’ll just blast at you or try to hit you with his arm. It’s a simple matter to evade and keep on blasting him. His moves are just too limited so he never stood a chance. Still, he’s better than he could have been since he may have been generic, but he was still a tough villain who feared no being!
Speaking of which, the last 5 or so missions are basically just boss fights. Each Autobot gets to take on his/her rival. Starscream isn’t that tough, but he typically runs away a lot, which is true to form. Airachnid and Knockout are probably the easiest to defeat, but that’s probably because Arcee and Bumblebee are the most fun to play as. Spamming their energy attacks is always a lot of fun. Megatron is easily the most difficult opponent to defeat because of his constant air charges. Once he hits you, it’s tough to break out of his combo. I never actually lost a fight, but he did come very close on several occasions. The Decepticon leader is not to be underestimated!
The graphics look pretty good. The energy blasts stand out and they are actually pretty useful here. The character models are all good and the level designs are pretty fun as well. The color palette is a lot lighter than the War For Cybertron series so you could almost say that it looks better, but the latter is still more detailed. I just prefer some of the designs in this game.
Prime’s soundtrack is very good. It borrows the themes from the show and it works out pretty well. There are a lot of opera themes in the game and they help to set the mood for the Decepticons big plots. Once in a while the hero theme will play during a moment that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. That is really the only negative that I can think of in this area since the actual soundtrack is pretty great.
Transformers has always had a bit of a problem with the length of its titles. It is not a real problem depending on your minimum for how long a game should be though. My minimum is 10 levels and the game goes beyond that to 13. It’s just a little dicey since some levels can be completed in under 5 minutes and the longest one is still 10-12 minutes long. That means that you’re looking at about a 2 hour game although likely a lot less if we’re just counting gameplay. This hurts the replay value a bit, but the game still does give us more to do to make up for this.
A pretty big positive for the game is the addition of multiplayer mode to the franchise. That was definitely huge and it’s a lot of fun. The way that it is set up implies that they were thinking of adding a 4 player option, but it may have been scrapped. You can still battle it out with a friend and I believe that you are also able to team up. It’s great to finally have a local multiplayer experience like in the good ole days. you can also try to get S ranks on all of the stages and find the collectibles on each level. That shouldn’t be very hard, but you’ll probably need to play each level at least twice so that should certainly increase the play time for you. I managed to get S ranks on several levels on my initial run, but I still missed most of the collectibles.
Overall, Transformers Prime is a pretty good game. It’s definitely what you’d call a cash in/tie in, but it’s pretty fun. You’ll be done with it in no time so getting it at 50-60 dollars may not be the way to go, but the price has dipped considerably since then. Now, it’s definitely worth purchasing and you’ll have fun playing in multiplayer mode. The replay value is definitely good enough and the graphics/soundtrack are very good. It never drags on and that’s always a very important factor to consider in a game. I recommend getting this if you’re a Transformers fan or if you’re a Wii U owner who’s looking for a new game. This’ll help you hold out until the next Legend of Zelda game comes out or it can act as a little break from Super Smash Bros before you go back to challenge the online warriors.
Overall 7/10
Mario Stats time!
Cup Stats
Mushroom Cup
50CC 40 Points. Star Rank
Flower Cup
50CC 40 Points Star Rank
Star Cup
50CC 40 Points Star Rank
Special Cup
50CC 40 Points Star Rank
Shell Cup
50CC 40 Points Star Rank
Banana Cup
50CC 40 Points Star Rank
Leaf Cup
50CC 36 Points B Rank
Lightning Cup
50CC 40 Points Star Rank
Missions
1-1 3 Star
1-2 1 Star
1-3 2 Star
1-4 2 Star
1-5 1 Star
1-6 2 Star
1-7 2 Star
1-8 1 Star
World 1 Boss A
2-1 A
2-2 3 Star
2-3 1 Star
2-4 2 Star
2-5 2 Star
2-6 B
2-7 1 Star
2-8 1 Star
World 2 Boss B
3-1 3 Star
3-2 2 Star
3-3 2 Star
3-4 2 Star
3-5 B
3-6 C
3-7 A
3-8 Star
World 3 Boss A
4-1 A
4-2 3 Star
4-3 B
4-4 C
4-5 1 Star
4-6 A
4-7 B
4-8 B
World 4 Boss Star
5-2 2 Star
Stats time!
Money 78806
World 0 11/11
World 1 22/22
World 2 22/22
World 3 18/22
World 4 16/22
World 5 21/22
World 6 21/22
World 7 20/22
World 8 21/22
World 9 20/22
World 10 22/22
The portable video game marathon continues with this unique puzzle game. Have you ever thought that you could complete any video game if it could keep up with your imagination? Well, now you can put that to the test since this game allows you to try and think your way out of a situation. There are naturally some limitations, but it does a good job of making you feel like you’re in control.
There isn’t a plot in this game as you just tackle the missions. There are two kinds of missions in the game. They are puzzles and action levels. Each world has 11 stages of each mode, which comes out to 220 stages…wow right? That’s definitely a lot of stages and it’s cool that the developers put in the effort to include so much content in the game. Some levels may just take you a minute, but others could take a solid half an hour easy if you don’t know how to win. The goal of each level is to ultimately attain the Starite whether it be through exploration or giving someone what they want.
The graphics are pretty good. The artistic style is hard to describe, but it works since the characters don’t feel pixelated. They are still using sprites I believe, but they are clean and distinct. There’s no real guesswork here when it comes to figuring out what is happening. I’m definitely satisfied graphically and the soundtrack is decent. I have to say that it is rather forgettable, but you don’t typically play a puzzle game for its music. It’s supposed to really just be soothing so that your mind can totally concentrate on the task at hand.
Tackling the 220 levels will certainly take a while, but the game also has some other features at the ready for replay value. For one thing, you can buy everything at the shop with your well earned cash. You’ll likely have a lot of money left over from completing the levels anyway so you may as well spend it on something good right? Some new tunes are in there, which can be great since finding new music is always fun. You can also replay every level on difficult mode, this means that you have to complete a level 3 times in a row and you cannot re use words. That sounds nearly impossible in some levels, but it’s probably okay if you are familiar with your synonyms and alternate names.
Now, the one thing that can make completing some of these levels tricky..or one of the things anyway, is that your imagination can differ from the developers. The biggest example of this is the bridge. I love bridged and I kept trying to make them work, but they are never useful in this game. That’s because the bridges are absolutely tiny. I don’t think that they end up helping you out in a single level…which can be pretty sad. That’s the classic example, but you will certainly find more as you play the game. To an extent, this can certainly destroy the illusion that the game produces where you control everything thanks to your imagination, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that they put a lot of effort into the title to incorporate all of the words. I can’t imagine how they coded this since it seems like the game should take up a massive amount of data. I know that game developers have their tricks though so they made it work somehow.
Moving can be a little tricky at first due to two factors. One is simply the fact that this game is puzzle oriented first and foremost with platforming being secondary. So, most of the game developing time probably went to the level designs, but the other factor is that you control the main character with the stylus. It’s been a while since I played a game like that and I certainly miss just using the pad. It’s not terrible though and you will get used to it fairly quick, but you should definitely be prepared for some self destructs. It’s almost impossible to go through the game without such an event occurring.
The game’s difficulty level does make it a little too intense for kids though so I would actually say that it is more suitable for older kids. There’s almost no way for a kid to solve some of these puzzles and at the very least it would take them a while. It’s nice of the game to award us with two free levels at the end since they are both just trolling the gamers. You can literally beat a level by walking a few steps at the end. That being said, most gamers will probably be tricked since there is an elaborate level set up. Who could have guessed that you would just have to ignore it and keep on walking right?
Overall, Scribblenauts is a pretty fun game and it’s very unique. It did for puzzle games what De Blob did for platforms. It opened new doors and it’s good to see that the series is still going strong. I haven’t played many puzzle games so I can’t really compare it to much on that front, but it’s definitely a good game. I imagine that I should have the next game relatively soon although the ad of “120 new levels” is a little alarming since this one had almost double that. I’m sure that there is a twist that I am not seeing though. The game can be difficult and the hints are not usually helpful, but this helps you to stretch out your thinking muscles.
Overall 7/10
Stats time!
Money 125440
4/16 Green Portals
1 Gold Coin
Stage Stats
Hall of Hieroglyphs 007110
Palm Tree Paradise 005890
Wilfdlower Fields 004730
Mystic Lake 006930
Monsoon Jungle 004390
The Curious Factory 003790
The Toxic Landfill 007130
40 Below Fridge 005230
Pinball Zone 008990
Toy Block Tower 006470
The Big Board 005150
Doodle Woods 009850
Domino Row 005370
Crescent Moon Village 008450
Arabian Night 004230
Fiery Cavern 004070
Hotel Horror 008880
This is the first Wario side scroller that I’ve played so far so it was definitely interesting to see how it would stack up against the average Mario or Yoshi title. I can definitely say that it’s not quite as impressive as those, but it’s good to see Nintendo taking a fairly original stance here. This title brings some more strategy into the typical side scrolling genre. It’s more of a miss than a hit, but fun nonetheless.
There isn’t much of a plot since Wario is just out for treasure as per usual. He wanders into a Pyramid and it has many labyrinths full of treasure and danger. Beyond all of the tombs is the legendary Pyramid of Gold. Wario will have to find all of the locks and jewels so that he can gain entry into this wondrous place. Can he handle all of the guardians who stand in his way? There is also a cat that seems to be guiding him somewhere the whole time….hmmmm.
The soundtrack is noticably different from the average Nintendo game. It fits Wario’s character I suppose….but I have to admit that I’m not a huge fan of it. The music during the gameplay is not bad, but every level has a timer effect on it (Which I shall talk about in a second) so it drowns out the music for at least half of the level. What we do hear is good though. The cutscenes have odd songs in them though with lyrics that aren’t really pleasing to the ear. I think the game dropped the ball in this area.
The gameplay is pretty smooth. You can move and jump like in Mario and a lot of emphasis is placed on grabbing objects and throwing them with your super strength. One of the new features in this game is a shoulder throw which can let you break through blocks and other objects. Wario can also run fast enough to shatter walls that cannot be broken with a dash. The key difference in this game is that your goal is not to get to the end of the level. It’s actually to find 4 gems and a key that are hidden inside of it and then making it back to the starting point before the level’s timer runs out. There are secret passages to watch out for and you have to really be observant so that you remember where to go. Each level also has a puzzle area where you have to figure out where to go and all the things to do. You can only second guess yourself once after all.
Graphically speaking Wario Land 4 isn’t very impressive, but what Game Boy Advance games were? They were fun portable games to play and we didn’t really care about the graphics back then. They were simply sprites and those can look good or bad depending on how they are used. I don’t think that they look quite as good as your average Mario GBA title, but they’re still not downright bad. On the contrary, the blurriness actually works well for some of the spookier bosses.
Which, I do have to note that some of the boss designs were quite clever. We had a giant Teddy Bear and there’s even a mysterious being who has many faces. It’s pretty intense and it’s a fun way to wrap up the game since it has the abilities of all the previous bosses. I think some games could take notes on this since this is a very good formula to use for the final boss. It makes you think back to all of the old fights to remember how you should go about fighting this thing. One section involving a hammer took me a while since I forgot how to hit myself.
The game doesn’t really have any big negatives, but there is naturally a reason why I am only giving it a 6 and not a 7. Most side scrollers automatically get 7 stars so something did hold it back a little. The puzzle route of going through levels may be unique, but I don’t think that it worked out so well. Maybe if this just occurred for some of the levels, but it’s in all of them and sometimes you just want to jump your way to the goal. One of the reasons why Mario is a series that will always be considered elite is that the levels are always fun. Whether you keep losing on an insane long jump or breeze through a world 8 stage in under a minute, you will have fun. The game never feels unfair or intellectually challenging to the point where you’ll need to go watch a Transformers film to feel relaxed again. This game just wasn’t as fun as your average Mario game and that’s because the puzzles made it feel more slow paced than it should have been. I still can’t call them bad per say…the gimmick really wasn’t bad. The game just works better as a fast paced, race to the finish kind of game.
The game’s length is pretty decent. There are roughly 20 levels in all and each one can take 5-10 minutes. For replay value, you can try to get all of the jewels and swirlies along with the maximum number of treasure chests by beating each boss as quickly as possible. This will also allow you to get a longer ending so that’s a decent incentive right? I’m definitely satisfied with the length of this title and it’s worth the big bucks. (Although I got it at a relatively cheap price anyway)
I’ve now played around 3 Wario games and I’ll improve that soon with Wario Land Shake It or Wario World. His series definitely loses out to Mario, Luigi, DK, and Yoshi, but that can always change with one really great game. I haven’t played Super Princess Peach yet so I really can’t comment on that one. The gameplay also seems slightly different from the norm so it’ll be interesting to see how Nintendo switches it up. It’s a little regrettable that none of the Wario supporting characters have ever managed to be popular, but maybe they will someday. The Final boss from this game should seriously appear again because it was just that awesome!
Overall, Wario Land 4 is a pretty fun title. It’s interesting to see Wario play the lead character for once. The ending was a little much, but I can at least admit that I didn’t see it coming. Stay tuned for the after credits scene as well to see what Wario spends his riches on. It certainly fits his character and you have to wonder when he will go on his next treasure trip. I can safely say that I will be buying Wario Land Shake It at some point, but I also wouldn’t expect to see a review for it this year. Bottom line is that I recommend Wario Land 4 is you like side scrollers or if you want to see some strategy in a game. It can be a little slow paced, but it’s ultimately still a pretty fun game. The portable video game marathon continues next with another strategic game!
Overall 6/10
Stats for the game, although my Wii broke at one point so my stats were greatly reduced. It went from over 600 hours of play time to..under 300! Ah well.
Power Time 223h 59m
Play Time 166h 5m
Adventure Play Time 4h 44m
Solo Play Time 37h
Combined Vs Play Time 71h 39m
Vs Match total 1958
Offline Vs Matches Played 497
Online Matched played 1461
Online Play Time w Friends 99h 19m
Online Play Time w Anyone 26m
Time Matches 12
Coin Matches 26
Stock Matches 459
Vs Play Contestants 1249
Match Reset Counters 7
Total Damage 243804
KO Total 2811
Self Destructs 57
Trophies 463
Stickers 631
Subspace 72% Complete-Total Score 991401
Target Smash
Mario 20s
DK 20s
Link 18s
Samus 20s
Kirby 19s
Fox 13s
Pikachu 19s
Marth 17s
Mr Game and Watch 17s
Luigi 24s
Diddy Kong 19s
Zelda 33s
Pit 26s
Meta Knight 16s
Falco 14s
Pokemon Trainer 17s
Ike 18s
Snake 23s
Peach 17s
Yoshi 15s
Ganondorf 22s
Ice Climbers 19s
King Dedede 22s
Wolf 24s
Lucario 25s
Ness 17s
Sonic 18s
Bowser 18s
Wario 18s
Toon Link 19s
ROB 15s
Olimar 19s
Captain Falcon 14s
Jigglypuff 18s
Lucas 20s
Home Run Contest
Mario 1416
DK 1498
Link 1476
Samus 1538
Kirby 1478
Fox 1365
Pikachu 1097
Marth 1457
Mr Game and Watch 1410
Luigi 1366
Diddy Kong 1502
Zelda 1461
Pit 1588
Meta Knight 1702
Falco 1706
Pokemon Trainer 1643
Ike 1702
Snake 1521
Peach 1727
Yoshi 1628
Ganondorf 1554
Ice Climbers 1580
King Dedede 1493
Wolf 1642
Lucario 1633
Ness 1434
Sonic 1592
Bowser 1529
Wario 1667
Toon Link 1520
ROB 1626
Olimar 1656
Captain Falcon 1826
Jigglypuff 1547
Lucas 1596
Classic
Mario 528851
DK 493800
Link 503000
Samus 493300
Kirby 493400
Fox 855852
Pikachu 453400
Marth 476500
Mr Game and Watch 496500
Luigi 492500
Diddy Kong 487400
Zelda 496200
Pit 511700
Meta Knight 460400
Falco 488800
Pokemon Trainer 459500
Ike 482900
Snake 443900
Peach 222352
Yoshi 532900
Ganondorf 488800
Ice Climbers 435200
King Dedede 508300
Wolf 641500
Lucario 446000
Ness 463100
Sonic 455100
Bowser 492700
Wario 481800
Toon Link 502300
ROB 482000
Olimar 482400
Captain Falcon 474800
Jigglypuff 491600
Lucas 461300
All Star
Mario 284794
DK 219800
Link 197500
Samus 178000
Kirby 211200
Fox 218700
Pikachu 186802
Marth 81763
Mr Game and Watch 188800
Luigi 238400
Diddy Kong –
Zelda 257400
Pit 225200
Meta Knight –
Falco –
Pokemon Trainer –
Ike 169400
Snake 55251
Peach 254200
Yoshi –
Ganondorf 220300
Ice Climbers 173500
King Dedede –
Wolf 524038
Lucario –
Ness –
Sonic 182200
Bowser 243500
Wario –
Toon Link 212500
ROB 143100
Olimar –
Captain Falcon 170501
Jigglypuff –
Lucas 91951
Boss Battle
Mario 2m 44s
DK 2m 11s
Link 2m 53s
Samus 3m 41s
Kirby 2m 26s
Fox 7m 45s
Pikachu 4m 16s
Marth 2m 47s
Mr Game and Watch 2m 38s
Luigi 2m 7s
Diddy Kong 2m 40s
Zelda 2m 58s
Pit 2m 56s
Meta Knight 3m 7s
Falco 4m 25s
Pokemon Trainer 1m 55s
Ike 3m 27s
Snake 3m 34s
Peach 3m 8s
Yoshi 2m 46s
Ganondorf 2m 26s
Ice Climbers 2m 17s
King Dedede 2m 22s
Wolf 2m 30s
Lucario 3m 36s
Ness 2m 33s
Sonic 3m 11s
Bowser 2m 31s
Wario 3m 12s
Toon Link 2m 34s
ROB 3m 5s
Olimar 3m 41s
Captain Falcon 2m 10s
Jigglypuff 2m 31s
Lucas 2m 50s
Events
Two Trouble Kings 20s
Landmaster Ignition 10
Pink Ball Repulsion 16s
Cleaning House in Skyworld 32s
Become the Champion 1m 19s
Super Bowser Bros 13
Diddy Kong Panic 25s
Go Triple Finish 16s
The Monster Beneath the Earth
21s
All Star Battle Regulars 1m 38s
Yoshi’s Rainbow 24s
Sleeping in the Eggs 5s
Dragon Strike 1m 9s
Sproutrage of the Flower Pikmin 41s
The Hammer of the King 5s
Power Suit On 23s
Super Waterfall Climb 3
Dark Link Duel 1m 2s
Wario Bros 1m 3s
All Star Battle X 1 1m 34s
Visit to Onett 39s
Monkeys Unite 1m 4s
Molten Norfair 4
Come on Blue Falcon 35s
The Aura is With Me 5s
The Slow and Easy Life 22s
Three Beast Carnage 1m 11s
Flower Blooms in the Echoes 25s
All Star Semifinal Regulars 52s
Sonic Boom 58s
The Ultimate Bodyguard 1m 41s
Bird in Darkest Night 1m 2s
Advent of the Evil King 1m 35s
All Star Battle Melee 1m 46s
The Visitor to Flat Zone 29s
High Tech Special Forces 37s
The Pirate Airship 3m 21s
The Wolf Hunts the Fox 53s
All Star Battle X 2 3m
The Final Battle 35s
The Final Final Battle 1m 11s
Co-Op Events
Two Trouble Kings 16s
Master The Pokemon Tag Battle 1m 36s
Fastest Shortest Sudden Death 3
The DK Tag Calamity 31s
The Yoshi Team of 50 2m 53s
Unwanted Suitors 1m 15s
Battle of the Dark Sides 44s
All Mine 42s
Those Who Wait in Onett 1m 16s
The ROBs of Tomorrow 1m 54s
The Great Remodeling Battle 40s
Come Back Falcon Flyer 24s
Blades of the Quick and Mighty 41s
The Dark Guardians 39s
Four Swords Brawl 1m 6s
Jigglypuff’s Great Comeback 55s
Sonic and Mario 1m
The New Weapon of Shadow Moses 48s
Shadow of Andross 37s
The Final Battle for Two 59s
The True All Star Battle 4m 46s
Cruel Brawl
Mario 2
Fox 12
Endless Brawl
Samus 53
Pikachu 184
Peach 71
15 Minute Brawl
Pikachu 252
Peach 95
3 Minute Brawl
Peach 51
10 Man Brawl
Samus 38s
Pikachu 21s
Luigi 23s
Peach 24s
Lucario 50s
Sonic 28s
Captain Falcon 55s
Olimar 41s
Wario 24s
100 Man Brawl
Pikachu 2m 50s
Peach 4m 15s
Tenkai Stats!
Play Time 5h 52m
Looks like it’s time to check out another 3DS game! It’s always a rush when you get to play a new Wii U or 3DS game since they’re part of the current gen. They won’t lose this shine for about 5-8 years so I need to appreciate all of the games while I can. Tenkai Knights is probably one of the greatest new franchises to step out of the great blue along with Buddyfight and Cardfight..depending on if you count Cardfight as recent or not. A video game based on the show was sure to be good. Knowing this…I opened the 3DS and began to plug and play.
The game adapts the first arc of the TV show. Essentially, 4 kids are given lego bricks and told that they can turn into 4 legendary heroes on another planet. They are needed because an evil robot has ammassed a large army and both planets are at risk without help from our heroes. They are glad to join in and quickly find confidence in their new roles. They are the Tenkai Knights and they shall protect all of the worlds!
Their confidence won’t be forgotten as the main character says “I won’t ever give up” whenever you complete a level. There are almost 30 levels in the game and this number gets closer to 50 if you count the side missions. That’s a lot of times to hear his catchphrase so you’ll certainly remember it by the end. I was impressed with the length of the game since I was expecting something closer to 15 levels. The game took me about 6 hours, but I had fun with a lot of the side missions so about 4 hours would probably be closer to the actual campaign length. Keep in mind that the majority of the game is made up of cutscenes as the actual levels are typically short. There are some long ones, but most of them can be finished rather quickly.
The cutscenes are basically just pictures and text. Once in a while you get some actual voice acting for the lines, but it seems like that was added at the last second since it comes very sporadically and it doesn’t mesh well with the music. It’s very hard to hear what they are saying even if you have the game on maximum volume. It’s probably not what you may have expected from the 3DS era, but at least the screencaps are good thanks to the quality animation of the show. It’s not the greatest silver lining, but hey…the cutscenes could be like the opening from Mario Galaxy 2!! These are still passable and the actual plot is very engaging like in the show. It really feels like you’re watching a kids version of the Power Rangers at times. At least, this is how I’ve always pictured a Power Rangers show to be like.
The graphics are pretty pixelated, but they’re decently good. Super Smash Bros and Kid Icarus are easily the best looking 3DS games by a mile. So, it’s probably a little tough on this game since I was playing Super Smash Bros rather recently. The graphics still aren’t bad and they won’t deter you from doing what needs to be done. It’s still fun to use your final smash although the smoke effect is a little lazy since they don’t need to add any explosions that way. I guess I would give the graphics a C-, but the screencaps have the solid animation of the show, which helps.
Brave Battle’s soundtrack is surprisingly good. All of the big characters get their own theme and I actually like most of them. I don’t care for Valorn’s or Venetta’s, but the rest of them are all pretty great. Chooki’s sounds like a classic Mega Man X theme and the Guardians have a cinematic level theme with their opera music that plays. I actually don’t care for Villius’ theme while his two henchmen get a pretty good theme. It’s very overused since it plays constantly, but it’s pretty fun. Naturally, Guren has a pretty good hero theme as well. This aspect of the game was certainly above average and I was not expecting such a good array of songs.
We cannot forget the gameplay though! It’s a side scroller that plays out like Mega Man to an extent, but you typically use a close range weapon like a sword. There are many weapons to choose from though so you can stick with a classic cannon if that’s your preference. The gameplay is definitely comparable to the Naruto Ninja Council games, but if you are not familiar with that series, then think of any GBA cash in title. Especially a super hero type game like Spider Man or the Power Rangers. It’s 2D and there are always playforms, but it’s not a platformer. You are stuck in a limited area and you typically have to beat a boss or clear out some enemies. It’s pretty fun and the controls can be a little iffy when jumping, but you can typically win any level from the ground anyway. Just stick to your strengths and you’ll be just fine.
The health bars are a little odd though as you can beat Dromas, the second final boss in under 10 seconds, but it takes you a few minutes to take out the large cat creature. That boss was definitely a lot of work until I realized that my standard attacks did more damage than my power ones. To spice up the gameplay, you can pick up items that the minions drop. There are two kinds, health items and final smash items. The latter let you destroy all of the enemies on the screen at a time while the health ones replenish your strength. You can also find material that comes from the enemies to build new weapons. The developers may have overdid it with the weapons selection as there must be over 100. I built a whole lot of them, but I’m not even close to getting them all. Unfortunately, the materials that you get are random and it takes quite a while to stockpile what you need to build the weapons that you want. It’s a long grind and not one that I’m about to do, but it’s better to have too many options than too little right?
I have to say that buying some weapons should be a top priority for you. I got one that improved my attack power to 280 and it still didn’t do all that much damage to some of the final minions and bosses. I can’t imagine how long the fights could have taken with a standard blade. Don’t worry about your booster and just pour all of your resources into a good sword and a good shield. Those weapons will never let you down and you’ll be able to go all the way to victory!
Overall, Tenkai Knights Brave Battle is a pretty fun game. The gameplay may not be the greatest example of how to pull off a classic Ninja Council gameplay on the big screen (Relatively speaking) but it’s still a lot of fun. You won’t even notice the time ticking by as you slice up all of the bots. The soundtrack is great and more than makes up for the graphics. The plot is also very engaging and especially intense if you have not seen the TV show yet. The game isn’t very long, but the side missions and obtainable items will certainly extend the overall length. I highly recommend buying this game and getting introduced into the world of the Tenkai Knights! (Maybe we’ll get a sequel to this game.)
Overall 7/10
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