A little over one decade ago,
Pokémon ignited the world of monster RPGs. It practically invented the genre,
introducing gamers to a world of role-playing we never knew, one that didn’t
have to feature compelling characters or a compelling story to consume us for
several dozen hours.
Not too long after Pokémon achieved
international success, a new card game surfaced: Yu-Gi-Oh! Riding the wave of
monster love, Yu-Gi-Oh! opened kids’ eyes to a world of card battling they never
knew existed. Soon, their eyes began to look at other card games as well,
eventually leading to the creation of Bakugan Battle Brawlers.
Bakugan is not a card game, but it
uses cards as items that are both collectible and functional. The real game uses
magnetic cards and marbles to produce something kids have never really seen
before; the video-game, on the other hand, tries to bring every fictional
element – most significantly the monsters – to life using the powers of our game
consoles.
The conversion is an unusual mix, to
say the least. Instead of the real-world formula, players are now rolling
monsters down a large virtual arena. In this phase, the monsters are crunched
into balls. You start by aligning the cursor with the area you want to target.
Next, you select one of three monsters (essentially marbles) in your deck. To
launch it into the arena, study the charge meter as it rises and falls; when it
reaches the maximum power you wish to unleash, press the right trigger. The ball
will launch and, with some help from the left analog stick (push it left or
right to steer, push it up or down to slow the marble down), it will land on top
of one of the cards within the arena.
That card is called a Gate Card, the
most important item in all of Bakugan. When your monster lands on it, he begins
to take possession of it. But he can’t actually take the card until it has been
won. There are a couple ways to accomplish this: the first is to battle an
opponent.
When two players’ monsters land on
the same card, the battle phase begins. During this phase, you might expect to
be faced with spells, attack options, and other RPG traits. Given that this is
being promoted as a card game, you may also expect stats to come into play –
perhaps you’d have to draw a powerful card or two, and hope they’re stronger
than your opponent’s cards.
Players can customize their characters
using a handful of pre-made aesthetics.
That isn’t the case. Bakugan’s
battle phase consists of point-based mini-games where your only goal is to score
the most points by the time runs out. The points, however, differ from those in
other games, as they are based on your monster’s default stat rating – G-Power.
Sort of the anti-EXP, achieving the highest G-Power is all you need to do to
win. If your monster’s G-Power is exorbitantly high, you might just be able to
sit back and do nothing at all simply because there’s no chance your opponent
will be able to catch up.
If you want to ensure that you win,
however, you’re going to have to increase your G-Power, and that’s where the
Power, Timing and Shooting battles come in. Power battles focus on your ability
to push the left and right sticks up/down and left/right. It’s not quite a Simon
Says experience but you should pay attention to the game’s advice or else you
won’t earn any points.
Shooting battles toss a sphere onto
the screen with multi-colored orbs that represent your monster’s attributes
(which could be fire, ice, wind, etc.). To gain points, push the left stick in
the direction of the desired sphere and push the right trigger to capture it.
Timing battles are the usual
mini-game inclusion: you must push a button or move the left stick as its
respective icon scrolls across the screen.
The monster with the most G-Power
wins. There is, however, a way to avoid the mini-games, as long as your opponent
– real or AI – makes a bad throw. Bakugan’s battle phase is essentially
real-time, but the marble-throwing phase is purely turn-based. Thus, if your
opponent throws a monster and misses the target (a Gate Card), you’ll get
another turn. Now you’ll have the opportunity to throw a second monster on top
of the Gate Card and acquire it by doing absolutely nothing. Win three Gate
Cards (or more, depending on game settings) and you’re home free.
They may look tough but these monsters can
be defeated with a simple mini-game.
If you’re reading this review, it’s
likely because you’re (A) a Bakugan fan or (B) wonder what the heck it is. The
latter group can stop reading; by now it should be apparent that the game is not
for you. Bakugan fans, however, need to consider if these mini-games are a
substantial draw. The story might be – as far as kid-targeted RPGs go, Bakugan
is one of the more tolerable tales, and seems to stay true to its anime source
material. It is wholly possible that an eight-year-old who can’t wait for each
new episode of Bakugan, and has all the toys, etc., will go nuts for the game’s
story.
But if that same kid loves Mario
Party and other mini-game collections, he or she may tire of this game’s lack of
variety and severe lack of depth. All kids are likely to be bored the length of
each turn, especially during four-player games, despite having the ability to
bypass some of the character animations.
Before picking this up for your
little one, ask yourself: is the license enough? Does your kid love the
characters as much as the real game of Bakugan, so much that he or she would
enjoy playing a game, any game, just to see those characters?
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Gameplay: 5.5
Throw a monster, play a mini-game, repeat.
Graphics: 5.0
Bare-minimum effects are used to present the 3D monsters and 2D anime
humans.
Sound: 5.0
Kids may get into the story, but that doesn’t change the fact that the music
and voice-overs are frequently childish and annoying.
Difficulty: Easy
When you can win by doing nothing (or at most, flicking a thumb), you know
you’re playing a game that’s very easy.
Concept: 5.0
Bakugan’s developers clearly had a difficult task on their hands when trying
to design a game using marbles and magnetic cards as source material.
Unfortunately, relying on tiring, been there, done that mini-games was not the
right solution.
Multiplayer: 5.0
The mini-games are too repetitive and too shallow to enjoy in a multiplayer
setting. Waiting for others to take their turns is not fun, especially when the
same batch of mini-games appear every time you or anyone else moves.
Overall: 5.5
Looking at it broadly, Bakugan isn’t a bad storybook for kids, assuming
that’s what you – or your child – is looking for in a $40 video-game, a
storybook. But as an RPG, Bakugan is severely lacking, and as a mini-game
collection, the game is very bland. You even can’t rate it as a card game
because, despite the in-game hype and frequent card-speak among characters,
Bakugan isn’t really a card game.
