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"The Jet Gamer" Game Review: Bakugan: Battle Brawlers
9 years ago
It’s another cheap Wii game for us to play.
Bakugan: Battle Brawlers
I’ve heard of Bakugan before, but I have never tried to watch the shows or get into any of the toys from this series. This is the first exposure I really have to this series, and it comes in the form of a cheap Wii game. After seeing several cheap Wii games, I think you know what to expect, but hey, you never know really. You might find things that aren’t total crap in the bargain bin sometimes of course. Let’s see how Bakugan is shall we?
Gameplay
The basic gameplay of Bakugan isn’t really that complicated. It is a lot easier to get into than say yugioh and the other battle games that were on tv and such during these times. Pretty much, here is the explanation of how to play and you will see it isn’t as hard as it may seem. Each player has three Bakugan monsters, as well as six cards in their decks. A Bakugan is a little monster that can roll up into a ball and is partners with a kid usually who is playing the game. When two Bakugan meet each other on the battlefield, they grow big and actually fight each other. The way they fight is by landing on the cards you each put on the battlefield. More can be added onto the field as you wish, but when your Bakugan lands on a card, it waits for various conditions to see if you can win the card and take it off the field. If you win three cards, you win the game and go to the next game against another opponent. There are four main ways you win the cards. The most common way is by a Bakugan battle where two Bakugan are on the same card. Whoever has the highest G power or attack will win. But you can add to this attack by either the card itself adding bonus effects, using ability cards before the battle, but they are one time use to do boosts, and then there are often times bonus items on the field before you land on the card that you can collect to increase your power or give bonuses. You then play a small minigame, which further boosts power for both players. Whoever is the highest at the end gets the card. Second, when two of your own Bakugan land on the same card, you get a double stand, which wins you the card without a fight. This is the easiest method, but you have to be able to not let others attack you in the meantime. Third, is a STAY. To be able to Stay, you must have all three of your Bakugan on the field on different cards first. On the next turn, since you have none to throw, you can tell one of your Bakugan to stay. If it then stays on that card without being attacked until your next turn, you win the card by default. Finally, the least common way is by Critical KO. This is done by doing sphere attacks on your opponent, which is ramming your Bakugan into theirs that is already on another card. Doing this lowers their attack down, and if you get it to zero by doing this, you win the card. Don’t expect to see this one much if at all, as it does require a big difference in strength. That’s the basic idea of how you play the game. It is a bit more complex than I may let on with this simple explanation here, but that is the basic idea. It is more complex in that navigating the battlefield for powerups, knowing when to and not use ability cards, and who and when to attack are all very strategic and up to the player. It is actually quite nice that there is some strategy to this game. Though at the same time, you can easily get stuck in your ways as there are often times easy ways to win, especially against certain opponents. You can mess with some of your opponents by shooting at their Bakugan on the field, and this does work sometimes making them lose their turns, but it won’t always work, so just be ready for that. So as you can see, the main gameplay of the game is actually rather interesting, and I think might would draw some more interest if not for the idea that this might be a kids game, since it is a kids show after all. I think that does hold it back a little bit, but the game is more interesting than you may think. The main downside to the game is that it really is you doing the same thing over and over again. Once you have done a few battles, you are doing the same thing again and again. There is just very little difference is all. You get this sameness feeling, and if you are ever getting bored with the game or a battle that is taking a long time, the next battle could just be more of the same. That isn’t always a bad thing, as the game does have consistency, but you of course do like to see some variety at times as well. It doesn’t help sometimes that difficulty of the AI isn’t even that hard either, even on the harder settings. They seem pretty much the same on most difficulties. The main differences I see is that they miss fewer shots on the higher difficulties and manually more their shots around more than just letting them land wherever they land. I’ll explain a bit more about the game as I go, but really, that is the main problem I see at least in terms of normal gameplay.
Story
The story of this game actually feels like something that would happen during a season of a show like this. Seeing as this game seems to share story similarities on how Yugioh tells a story, it does feel like a season of a show you would see on tv. That is both good and sort of meh at the same time. You get to create your own custom character in this game, though the options are very limited, but he does actually interact with the main people from the series and even talks back to them throughout the entire game. You really feel like this character is a part of the story instead of just being there to change an already established story. Your character runs into a new Bakugan called Leonidas that seems to have a bad attitude, but does agree to be your partner if he gets to fight other Bakugan. The story is pretty much Leonidas’ progression as you and him battle together, get to know each other and the main characters, the battle brawlers, from the series. You get to see as Leonidas’ attitude is slowly trying to change, even when many others think he is dangerous and not from where all the Bakugan are from. I’m not going to spoil the whole game, but they do this rather well on showing how Leonidas’ personality changes over time. It also shows how evil people that want to take out the Battle Brawlers, want to beat them and rule over all the Bakugan as well, and they first want to defeat them in battle, but you are there suddenly coming out of nowhere to not only convince them Leonidas isn’t bad, but that you can help them stop these bad people as well. In other words, it feels like the natural progression of a battle game show like you see on tv. The only real shortfall of the story is that it is just too short. You don’t really get to know the characters that well, other than what you can read up about them in the game. You just know these characters are experts in the field of Bakugan and you are aiming to be just like them. I just wish the story was longer and more fleshed out. This actually feels like it could be made into a short season of a show if done right. The game’s story just needs to be longer is all.
Graphics
When you look at this game, you will be surprised at how nice it actually looks. You normally think of cheaper Wii games you find in the wild to normally not look that good. This time, it’s the opposite. I think this game actually looks very well designed and the characters are all bright and colorful and it really does, once again, look like this game could be ripped right out of a tv show. The graphics are actually that nice. I don’t really think I saw much in terms of glitches at all. Everything was nice and smooth and it really did look like an episode out of a daytime anime that you see on tv. My only complaint would be that really I would have liked to have seen a little bit more done with the game, as other than the nicely designed and animated battlefields and the nice characters that look great, it just feels like I would want to see more of the world shown off. The map of the city they live in is nice, but you don’t really get to see it at all. All you really see are just the battlefields in this game. So really, I just want to see more of this nice world. That’s actually not the worst problem in the world really. The game still looks great overall.
Sound
The game actually sounds great as well. It does lack that slightly memorable quality to make it perfect music, but it is up there in terms of quality. The music keeps you entertained, and can in some cases make you sort of hum it or follow along with it as you are playing. Seeing as this is a strategy game sort of as well, the music is very important, seeing as there isn’t action every second of the game. It has that slightly rocking feel to it, and it tries to play the music off as the cool kid’s music that you see in those shows once again. I know I’m mentioning shows like Yugioh and such often with this game, but seeing as this has that same anime feel that the other series has, it is a good comparison to give you on how this game plays and sounds. Overall, I would say give it a listen. It isn’t perfect of course, but I could see it being something someone at least would want to listen to occasionally if it turned up in their music playlist at random.
Control
The control of the game isn’t the worst by any means, but there are times where the motion controls can get to you if I can be honest up front. Some of the game you can just use your standard d pad, but there is a good half of the game where you are going to be relying on the motion controls. Basic movement and throwing isn’t the problem as that “usually” works well. There are times where things can go a little squirrely and things can go not as planned. That is sort of the nature of strategy though. Things aren’t always going to go the way you want them to go. Though there are times when the Wii controls do make it hard to turn the way you want, or when you are doing the mini games to determine final power levels, that the motion controls will register certain movements different ways than the way you are actually doing them. There were many times where I was shaking the remote a certain way, but it would want to say I was not doing so and want to punish me. Yeah, those are the kind of things I hate. Accuracy on the board can be tricky at times, so just be ready for it. This is once again, once of those areas where it feels like it works, but it could have been fine-tuned just a little bit better. There were only a few times where it just downright bugged me, mostly during the final boss, but other than that, most things are honestly your fault. There are still those times though where it isn’t. Just be ready for it.
Replay Value
This game actually does have decent replay value to it, though it does miss from being perfect as well once again. That’s a common theme with this game. It is close, but just lacking just a little bit. The main way this game has replayability is in two ways. First, is that there are always lots of players to play against in this game and it encourages you to keep battling them to not only get better and beat harder opponents, it also is earning you a lot of Bakugan points, or BP. The BP is used to buy new Bakugan, new cards, and to upgrade your current Bakugan. There are almost twenty Bakugan of every element, and there are six elements in the game. Most of the Bakugan are all the same though, it is just they are different elemental versions of themselves is all. Still, the game encourages collecting them all and getting all the cards. To do this, you are going to have to have lots of battles with the CPU in the game, which will drag the game out for quite some time if you decide to complete your collection. Yes, this is another one of those games that has a collectathon to extend replayability. If you enjoy what you are doing though, that’s not a bad thing, but if you eventually start getting tired of the same game over and over again, I can see how this can get old. Collectathons are just such a subjective thing. Some people love them, and others hate the grinding that is needed and usually the extend time that is needed to complete collections in games as well. I mentioned though above how short the game is though, and that does hurt the replayability of the main story of course. Still, the main game of just playing Bakugan battles though isn’t hurt at all though. There are always more tournaments, which is like the main story, to play through on different battlefields, and then there are all the people in the park that will fight you constantly as well. There is replayability here for sure. It is just is it your cup of tea to want to grind for a collection instead of having more of the main game is all.
Overall, I would say that Bakugan actually is one of those gems that is hiding out there in the bargain bin of the Wii library. I think it likely got passed over because of its name and the fact that it looks like a kid’s game at first glance. When you get deeper into it though, you find a neat little twist on the battle game shows that have been going on for some time now. It looks great. It sounds great, and has some great replayability as well. While I do wish the controls were slightly better and for sure I wish the story was longer, it has some good quality to it over all. If you have tried Yugioh games before, I think this would be a good game to at least try out for sure. If you aren’t into games that have that anime feel though, you may not like this game. Still, I feel that this is a hidden gem for the Wii library. When you run into so much cheapo shovel ware for the Wii, it is good to find that not everything that is cheap is something you don’t want to play. I would say try this one out for sure. At least give it a try.
Overall, in my opinion at least, I give Bakugan: Battle Brawlers an eight out of ten.
Gameplay: 7
Story: 8
Graphics: 9
Sound: 9
Control: 7
Replay Value: 8
Overall: 8
Bakugan: Battle Brawlers
I’ve heard of Bakugan before, but I have never tried to watch the shows or get into any of the toys from this series. This is the first exposure I really have to this series, and it comes in the form of a cheap Wii game. After seeing several cheap Wii games, I think you know what to expect, but hey, you never know really. You might find things that aren’t total crap in the bargain bin sometimes of course. Let’s see how Bakugan is shall we?
Gameplay
The basic gameplay of Bakugan isn’t really that complicated. It is a lot easier to get into than say yugioh and the other battle games that were on tv and such during these times. Pretty much, here is the explanation of how to play and you will see it isn’t as hard as it may seem. Each player has three Bakugan monsters, as well as six cards in their decks. A Bakugan is a little monster that can roll up into a ball and is partners with a kid usually who is playing the game. When two Bakugan meet each other on the battlefield, they grow big and actually fight each other. The way they fight is by landing on the cards you each put on the battlefield. More can be added onto the field as you wish, but when your Bakugan lands on a card, it waits for various conditions to see if you can win the card and take it off the field. If you win three cards, you win the game and go to the next game against another opponent. There are four main ways you win the cards. The most common way is by a Bakugan battle where two Bakugan are on the same card. Whoever has the highest G power or attack will win. But you can add to this attack by either the card itself adding bonus effects, using ability cards before the battle, but they are one time use to do boosts, and then there are often times bonus items on the field before you land on the card that you can collect to increase your power or give bonuses. You then play a small minigame, which further boosts power for both players. Whoever is the highest at the end gets the card. Second, when two of your own Bakugan land on the same card, you get a double stand, which wins you the card without a fight. This is the easiest method, but you have to be able to not let others attack you in the meantime. Third, is a STAY. To be able to Stay, you must have all three of your Bakugan on the field on different cards first. On the next turn, since you have none to throw, you can tell one of your Bakugan to stay. If it then stays on that card without being attacked until your next turn, you win the card by default. Finally, the least common way is by Critical KO. This is done by doing sphere attacks on your opponent, which is ramming your Bakugan into theirs that is already on another card. Doing this lowers their attack down, and if you get it to zero by doing this, you win the card. Don’t expect to see this one much if at all, as it does require a big difference in strength. That’s the basic idea of how you play the game. It is a bit more complex than I may let on with this simple explanation here, but that is the basic idea. It is more complex in that navigating the battlefield for powerups, knowing when to and not use ability cards, and who and when to attack are all very strategic and up to the player. It is actually quite nice that there is some strategy to this game. Though at the same time, you can easily get stuck in your ways as there are often times easy ways to win, especially against certain opponents. You can mess with some of your opponents by shooting at their Bakugan on the field, and this does work sometimes making them lose their turns, but it won’t always work, so just be ready for that. So as you can see, the main gameplay of the game is actually rather interesting, and I think might would draw some more interest if not for the idea that this might be a kids game, since it is a kids show after all. I think that does hold it back a little bit, but the game is more interesting than you may think. The main downside to the game is that it really is you doing the same thing over and over again. Once you have done a few battles, you are doing the same thing again and again. There is just very little difference is all. You get this sameness feeling, and if you are ever getting bored with the game or a battle that is taking a long time, the next battle could just be more of the same. That isn’t always a bad thing, as the game does have consistency, but you of course do like to see some variety at times as well. It doesn’t help sometimes that difficulty of the AI isn’t even that hard either, even on the harder settings. They seem pretty much the same on most difficulties. The main differences I see is that they miss fewer shots on the higher difficulties and manually more their shots around more than just letting them land wherever they land. I’ll explain a bit more about the game as I go, but really, that is the main problem I see at least in terms of normal gameplay.
Story
The story of this game actually feels like something that would happen during a season of a show like this. Seeing as this game seems to share story similarities on how Yugioh tells a story, it does feel like a season of a show you would see on tv. That is both good and sort of meh at the same time. You get to create your own custom character in this game, though the options are very limited, but he does actually interact with the main people from the series and even talks back to them throughout the entire game. You really feel like this character is a part of the story instead of just being there to change an already established story. Your character runs into a new Bakugan called Leonidas that seems to have a bad attitude, but does agree to be your partner if he gets to fight other Bakugan. The story is pretty much Leonidas’ progression as you and him battle together, get to know each other and the main characters, the battle brawlers, from the series. You get to see as Leonidas’ attitude is slowly trying to change, even when many others think he is dangerous and not from where all the Bakugan are from. I’m not going to spoil the whole game, but they do this rather well on showing how Leonidas’ personality changes over time. It also shows how evil people that want to take out the Battle Brawlers, want to beat them and rule over all the Bakugan as well, and they first want to defeat them in battle, but you are there suddenly coming out of nowhere to not only convince them Leonidas isn’t bad, but that you can help them stop these bad people as well. In other words, it feels like the natural progression of a battle game show like you see on tv. The only real shortfall of the story is that it is just too short. You don’t really get to know the characters that well, other than what you can read up about them in the game. You just know these characters are experts in the field of Bakugan and you are aiming to be just like them. I just wish the story was longer and more fleshed out. This actually feels like it could be made into a short season of a show if done right. The game’s story just needs to be longer is all.
Graphics
When you look at this game, you will be surprised at how nice it actually looks. You normally think of cheaper Wii games you find in the wild to normally not look that good. This time, it’s the opposite. I think this game actually looks very well designed and the characters are all bright and colorful and it really does, once again, look like this game could be ripped right out of a tv show. The graphics are actually that nice. I don’t really think I saw much in terms of glitches at all. Everything was nice and smooth and it really did look like an episode out of a daytime anime that you see on tv. My only complaint would be that really I would have liked to have seen a little bit more done with the game, as other than the nicely designed and animated battlefields and the nice characters that look great, it just feels like I would want to see more of the world shown off. The map of the city they live in is nice, but you don’t really get to see it at all. All you really see are just the battlefields in this game. So really, I just want to see more of this nice world. That’s actually not the worst problem in the world really. The game still looks great overall.
Sound
The game actually sounds great as well. It does lack that slightly memorable quality to make it perfect music, but it is up there in terms of quality. The music keeps you entertained, and can in some cases make you sort of hum it or follow along with it as you are playing. Seeing as this is a strategy game sort of as well, the music is very important, seeing as there isn’t action every second of the game. It has that slightly rocking feel to it, and it tries to play the music off as the cool kid’s music that you see in those shows once again. I know I’m mentioning shows like Yugioh and such often with this game, but seeing as this has that same anime feel that the other series has, it is a good comparison to give you on how this game plays and sounds. Overall, I would say give it a listen. It isn’t perfect of course, but I could see it being something someone at least would want to listen to occasionally if it turned up in their music playlist at random.
Control
The control of the game isn’t the worst by any means, but there are times where the motion controls can get to you if I can be honest up front. Some of the game you can just use your standard d pad, but there is a good half of the game where you are going to be relying on the motion controls. Basic movement and throwing isn’t the problem as that “usually” works well. There are times where things can go a little squirrely and things can go not as planned. That is sort of the nature of strategy though. Things aren’t always going to go the way you want them to go. Though there are times when the Wii controls do make it hard to turn the way you want, or when you are doing the mini games to determine final power levels, that the motion controls will register certain movements different ways than the way you are actually doing them. There were many times where I was shaking the remote a certain way, but it would want to say I was not doing so and want to punish me. Yeah, those are the kind of things I hate. Accuracy on the board can be tricky at times, so just be ready for it. This is once again, once of those areas where it feels like it works, but it could have been fine-tuned just a little bit better. There were only a few times where it just downright bugged me, mostly during the final boss, but other than that, most things are honestly your fault. There are still those times though where it isn’t. Just be ready for it.
Replay Value
This game actually does have decent replay value to it, though it does miss from being perfect as well once again. That’s a common theme with this game. It is close, but just lacking just a little bit. The main way this game has replayability is in two ways. First, is that there are always lots of players to play against in this game and it encourages you to keep battling them to not only get better and beat harder opponents, it also is earning you a lot of Bakugan points, or BP. The BP is used to buy new Bakugan, new cards, and to upgrade your current Bakugan. There are almost twenty Bakugan of every element, and there are six elements in the game. Most of the Bakugan are all the same though, it is just they are different elemental versions of themselves is all. Still, the game encourages collecting them all and getting all the cards. To do this, you are going to have to have lots of battles with the CPU in the game, which will drag the game out for quite some time if you decide to complete your collection. Yes, this is another one of those games that has a collectathon to extend replayability. If you enjoy what you are doing though, that’s not a bad thing, but if you eventually start getting tired of the same game over and over again, I can see how this can get old. Collectathons are just such a subjective thing. Some people love them, and others hate the grinding that is needed and usually the extend time that is needed to complete collections in games as well. I mentioned though above how short the game is though, and that does hurt the replayability of the main story of course. Still, the main game of just playing Bakugan battles though isn’t hurt at all though. There are always more tournaments, which is like the main story, to play through on different battlefields, and then there are all the people in the park that will fight you constantly as well. There is replayability here for sure. It is just is it your cup of tea to want to grind for a collection instead of having more of the main game is all.
Overall, I would say that Bakugan actually is one of those gems that is hiding out there in the bargain bin of the Wii library. I think it likely got passed over because of its name and the fact that it looks like a kid’s game at first glance. When you get deeper into it though, you find a neat little twist on the battle game shows that have been going on for some time now. It looks great. It sounds great, and has some great replayability as well. While I do wish the controls were slightly better and for sure I wish the story was longer, it has some good quality to it over all. If you have tried Yugioh games before, I think this would be a good game to at least try out for sure. If you aren’t into games that have that anime feel though, you may not like this game. Still, I feel that this is a hidden gem for the Wii library. When you run into so much cheapo shovel ware for the Wii, it is good to find that not everything that is cheap is something you don’t want to play. I would say try this one out for sure. At least give it a try.
Overall, in my opinion at least, I give Bakugan: Battle Brawlers an eight out of ten.
Gameplay: 7
Story: 8
Graphics: 9
Sound: 9
Control: 7
Replay Value: 8
Overall: 8
