Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: The Fighting Edition
If you want to put an everlasting connection between video games, movies and TV series, that connection would have to be video game versions of those movies and tv series (and vice versa...to an extent). And most, if not all the time, the end product ends up screaming "I'm made for money and that's it". And in turn, this means that the game is a steaming pile of dog droppings. That's the kindest way to put it.
So it's a bit of a mystery as to what exactly transpired when Bandai and Natsume got together. Sure money was the main player in the game, but did they discuss anything about 'loyalty' or 'good game play'? Something that is so often severely lacking when a movie/television series to game conversion is released.
In short, probably not.
The most surprising thing that gamers will notice when first loading up Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Fighting Edition (MMPR: TFE because it's too long to type) is that the rangers aren't going to be used. Nope, you'll be in control of various Zords and monsters, spanning the three seasons and the movie. And they don't look too bad, with the whole anime feel certainly being seen as an influence. It works a treat here, because simply put, Robots and Zany monsters, combined with anime style drawings is a match made in heaven.
You can see that Bandai and Natsume paid some sort of reverence to the series, something that is never really seen in licensed games. Instead of throwing a few putties, the rangers themselves and Rita into the mix, they've decided to utilise the zords and some instantly recognisable monsters within the game. Except for the original Megazord, all the other major Zords are present within the game ranging from the Thunder Megazord to the Shogun Megazord. On top of this, they also have the Lipstick Syncher as a playable character, a monster that was so outrageous in the series, it became in an instant fan favourite. While all this may not mean much to the uninitiated, for a Ranger fan (i.e. ME!) , it's a sign of respect from the creators, and is certainly a treat. Combined with the wonderful theme music and the awesome zord transformation scenes, it shows that Bandai and Natsume discussed some sort of reverence towards when designing the game, something that I stress, is never seen in a movie/tv series to game conversion.
But for the untutored this probably means absolutely nothing. It isn't an entire shame, but the rest of the game isn't any different to what was on the market at the time. It's a fighting game, and unless it rivals the Street Fighter series for gameplay and originality, it'll probably fade into obscurity, which happened to MMPR: TFE. Unfortunately for the story mode, only the Thunder Megazord and Mega Tigerzord are available for use. And there really isn't any story to be seen, you'll fight the Thunder Megazord/Mega Tigerzord (depending on which one you use), then fight the Lipstick Syncher, then fight all the other zords, then Lord Zedd, followed by Ivan Ooze. But wait? Ivan Ooze wasn't in the series? Why am I fighting another Zord in the command centre? Why isn't Zordon stopping this? These questions really add to the lack of any coherency in the story mode. Of course, it works both ways, for the uneducated, it shouldn't really matter, but for the fans, it's a real kick in the nuts from Bandai and Natsume. It could've been an opportunity to use the evil characters and change the whole Power Ranger time line. Unfortunately, this is probably where 'respect' was forgotten and 'money' started creeping into the picture.
Other than the lackluster story mode, you've got the regular two player fighting mode (which allows players to use the other zords and monsters) and the time trial mode. Sadly that's pretty much the rest of the game, and unless you and your mate are a) Massive fans and b) have played the game long enough to work out all the nooks and crannies of the game, there isn't much replayability in this game.
You feel that MMPR:TFE was teetering on the edge of good and complete mediocrity. Unfortunately, with the lack of decent game modes and something different in the fighting engine, it doesn't do enough to bring in the unknowledgeable of the whole Mighty Morphin' Power Ranger universe. Likewise, the lack of a coherent story mode is a real disappointment to those who constantly watched the series in it's heydays, and can still remember all the things that made Power Rangers great. Sure, you get the feeling that Bandai and Natsume did try to pay some reverence to the fans, but sadly, the allure of money, money, money got to their head and ultimately made this a cash cow of a game. Nothing more.
6/10 (cause I'm a fan of Power Rangers).
No comments:
Post a Comment