Bakugan: Battle Brawlers (Wii) Review

I’ve got to be brutally honest here, I’ve never been a huge fan of any kinds of animated series besides the classic Pokemon series, and even then I’m not a huge fan now. When Bakugan arrived on my front door step, I was confused as to what Bakugan actually was, and whether it would be good or not. With the flooding of the market with animated series such as Beyblades, Yu-Gi-Oh and now Bakugan, I was understandably sceptical as to what Bakugan: Battle Brawlers could bring to the table. Honestly, though, I’m a little too old to be considered the game’s target audience, though I will do my best to review this title from their perspective.

For those not in the know, Bakugan is an animated series set in a dimension known as Vestroia that focuses on young individuals known as “Battle Brawlers” who train and keep monsters known as “Bakugan”. Long ago, it has been said that a Bakugan known as Naga decided to absorb the energy of two cores that provide balance to Vestroia, and in doing so, accidentally absorbed too much negative energy, while his sister, another Bakugan named Wyvern, absorbed too much positive energy. Enter the battle brawlers, seven children who received metallic cards that fell from the sky, and aim to learn as much as they can about the Bakugan, the game they play, and to defeat the mighty Naga.

Yeah, the story isn’t that original, but at least now you’re briefly updated on how the series works and the universe was established. Within the video game, players take the role of an unnamed character very enthusiastic about the Bakugan, who meets the main characters from the TV show before training and embarking on a quest to foil a world domination attempt. Yes, once again, there’s not a lot of originality here, but the way that each character and the Bakugan themselves are implemented in this game make it a very well put together fan service package.

One of the high points for the Bakugan game is definitely it’s graphical presentation, which is largely assisted by the game’s source material being so easy to replicate on the Nintendo Wii hardware. Bakugan is completely cel-shaded and gives the game an almost identical look to the animated series that the game is based on. Character models are decently detailed with a few minor rough edges, though animations are slightly off for voice work; people who watch dubbed anime shows are most probably already used to that, though. Unsurprisingly, the Bakugan themselves are brilliantly detailed, with some superb and slick animations, and fit right in with the colourful and vibrant arenas that most of the game takes place in. This blend of greatly designed characters and colourful graphics is sure to appeal to almost anyone.

If you’re new to Bakugan, there’s probably a chance you won’t be reading this review, but on the off chance you are, here’s a quick run down on how the game of Bakugan works. Essentially, players throw down their cards on the battlefield, which gives specific effects to the Bakugan situated on top of it. From that point, players throw a Bakugan on the card. Your opponent does the same, and the Bakugan battle. From that point, an arbitrary measure of power known as “g-power” decides which Bakugan emerges victorious from the battle. It’s not too difficult to pick up, though honestly it’s rather hard to keep interest in the game without any already vested interest in the series itself. Players can change the cards their Bakugan land on in order to change the battle through other conditions or by making the Bakugan deal more damage, but outside of that there’s really not a whole lot of depth to it. But then again, that’s a good thing for the target audience, no doubt. In typical Pokemon fashion, certain Bakugan are weak against other types and vice versa. It’s all very derivative.

In the fashion that you would expect from a creature-based fighting and training game, most of the gameplay in Bakugan consists of story related matches against a single opponent or tournaments in which several characters are pitted against your character. Winning these battles earns currency for the player to upgrade their Bakugan and the cards they reside on—which does admittedly become a necessity in later battles. What does make the gameplay a little bit more interesting is that the Wii Remote can be used to “throw” the Bakugan onto the battlefield (while holding A + B) and steer them onto one of the cards previously mentioned. Should two Bakugan’s collide on the same card, a multitude of mini-games begin, which are very shallow implementations of the motion controls, and consist of shaking the remote vigorously, shaking the remote at specific times, or aiming at the screen.

Long time fans of the series will recognise that the proper voice actors for the series return to reprise their roles for this adaptation, which certainly adds to the authenticity of the whole affair, albeit being typical quality that you’d expect from anime written dialogue. In a rather strange combination that I’ve been noticing in many games, most of the game’s music is a mix of heavy guitar pieces accompanied by some very downbeat techno mixes during battles. It’s a rather, well, strange combination that I personally found quite hideous, but I can imagine those who enjoy this kind of thing will enjoy the musical offerings, too.

There is obviously a lot of content jam packed into the Bakugan disc. Players who are huge fans of the game will enjoy finding all of the Bakugan and cards to finish their collection, however it’s a little bit hard to recommend to the older audience who will no doubt finish it or lose interest before even wanting to complete the game fully. Thankfully, though, this package is filled with fan service and isn’t a completely mindless cash in designed to tie-in with the anime franchise.

Bakugan isn’t a great game, and I’m not going to lie, it’s probably not going to impress a lot of people. While it’s a definite worthwhile investment for those that are fans of the series, it’s extremely hard to recommend it to anyone else. If you’re a fan, think about picking it up. If you’re anyone else, I recommend you avoid. Seriously.

Graphics 7.5

A great blend of cel-shaded graphics with some pretty nice animations, too. Bakugan themselves are brilliantly detailed, though some lip sync animations are very off with their voice actors.

Gameplay 5.0

A very average mix of a done-to-death battle system and mediocre motion control implementation. Theres little to no good pacing in most of the games core mechanics and most of it is way too easy. Definitely a challenge for younger children, though.

Sound 4.5

A perpleing mix of techno mixes and heavy guitar at varying points throughout the game. Most of the music pieces will have avid gamers cringing. The target audience for this title is more than likely to enjoy it, however.

Tilt 6.5

Theres a lot of Bakugan to collect and a lot of stuff to do, however players who are not well accustomed to the series or care for it much are going to find it hard to muster the motivation to complete the game.

Value 2.0

I seriously couldnt get much enjoyment out of Bakugan. Its just too slow, too boring, and I feel like its all been done before.