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by THQ

My son has been asking again and again for his very own Power Ranger. I have to say that as a parent, I’m a little disappointed. With all of the retro brands coming back into style, I’d be a lot happier if he was asking me for a He-Man or Transformer, even G.I. Joe would be a step up. I’ve never let him watch an episode of the Power Rangers, and yet every time we enter Target, it is all that he wants. Sometimes I have to ask the question, "Why me?" What did I do wrong? Not only do I have to suffer the constant requests for uncool toys, but I also have to suffer through the time it actually takes to play their video game incarnations. I’ve lost track of the number of Power Ranger games I’ve reviewed. Intellectually, I know that it couldn’t have been more than 3 or 4, but sometimes it feels like every other videogame is a Power Rangers title.

I’m sure that there’s a story line somewhere amid all of the punching and kicking, but I really didn’t care enough to pay attention. When you defeat a level and transform into your Megazoid, the controls become downright annoying. At times I felt I had all the control of the original Dragon’s Lair. If there is a spark of creativity or originality to be found in this game, I haven’t been able to find it. Usually when I review an unoriginal game, I end up comparing it to other titles on the market. This game is so unoriginal that I can only compare it to previous incarnations of itself.

I couldn’t escape the feeling of déjà vu. Just as I am unable to tell one Power Ranger series from the other, I find myself unable to distinguish one game from the other, as if they had re-edited game content the same way they re-edit series footage to create "new" episodes. Wild Force employs the same isometric view as the PSone game of a few years ago. Both had a very limited punch /jump/ special move button combination. The graphics are passable, but on a screen this size, so many of the levels and bad guys look the same. Things get very repetitive very quickly.

The real selling point of the game is the cooperative mode. You can link up to four Gameboys at once to fight evil as a team. This would be a really cool feature if it was like the Justice League or something, but finding four fans of the Power Rangers who are dedicated enough to each shell out forty bucks for this game might be too much to ask for.

This is a review full of unanswered questions. I don’t expect to ever find answers to these questions. If you want to know how I felt about this game, just check out the reviews to the other Power Rangers games that I’ve had the privilege of playing. They are not terribly incompetent games, they just hold very little interest for anyone but the most die hard fans.

The Game Boy Advance held such promise when it was released. I remember being filled with the hope that handheld gaming would be full of real games that any gamer would be looking forward to playing. Apart from a few first party titles and the Tony Hawk series, there just hasn’t been a whole lot to write home about. It is a very simple system to program for, and too many companies are using it as a platform to foster brand recognition and brand loyalty. The Game Boy Advance hasn’t been so much about games, as it has been about advertising cartoons, movies and toys. I get frustrated enough about the commercials that I have to sit through at the movie theater. Having to interact with these commercials is one agony too many.

Jason Frank   (10/04/2002)

Snapshot

Ups: If you like Power Rangers, now you can play multiplayer.

Downs: Same as all the other Power Rangers games; uninspired gameplay and overall mediocrity.

Platform: Game Boy Advance