Digimon Rumble Arena 2
8
10
2
2
Fun but extremely short and repetitive
Digimon: RA2 is a Super Smash Brothers-esque fighting game based on the anime "Digimon." Players can choose from one of 19 Digimon to play as from the first four seasons (albeit VERY few representatives of the third and fourth), fighting each other on one of 10 stages. Each Digimon has his/her own set of special moves, along with varying standard attacks (including a Grab and Block) and general abilities (for example, Patamon being capable of gliding, Lillymon being able to triple jump, etc).
Gameplay - 7/10: In each "Rumble," Digimon start at one of four pre-designated areas on the stage, and they simply attack each other. You will also have also often have to worry about stage hazards. As the Digimon beat on each other, they will drop Energy Cores (what I call it, since I don't think the game gives these small, blue spheres any official name). By collecting these Energy Cores, your "Digivolution Meter" will fill up. Once it reaches maximum, you can Digivolve to the next stage, up to a maximum of your second stage.
It can be quite fun to see your favorite Digimon brawling it out on screen. But unfortunately, the actual gameplay gets boring rather quickly; especially if you're able to be the first to Digivolve to your final stage. You see, whenever you Digivolve, you can both deal out mroe damage, but you can take more punishment yourself. As a result, if you're at your final stage and your opponent is at their first, it is usually a simple matter to keep your opponent at their first stage and just rip them apart. Also, the fact that there are only 10 different stages means that you'll play on each one long enough to get bored of them quickly enough.
Thankfully, there are different Game Modes to play for Vs. Mode, but they don't help it very much. Personally, I never found myself playing those for too long either. There are also many pick-ups that spawn in specific spots on the stage, but this usually does little more than support the "strategy" of camping. The game also suffers from some balancing issues regarding some of the hidden characters, and the CPU players are always able to break out of things faster than humanly possible.
Graphics - 6/10: While it's neat looking at your Digimon on-screen, it didn't take me long to realize...that I didn't like how they were portrayed. It has always bugged me that the Digimon all have a shiny texture to them, which made it look like they were all made of metal or something. Thankfully, you don't notice this much during the game, but it is still a thing. On top of this, some of the Digimon didn't look quite right, when I looked at them a bit closer. The graphics are, overall, nothing glorious, but they're certainly nothing to really complain about either. The cartoonish look is exactly what one would expect from a game based on an anime like Digimon.
Sound - 5/10: This is where I got annoyed. The sound effects for the battle were usually over the top "bam" sounds which I found kind of annoying after a while. The voices for the Digimon are accurate, but they let out loud cries or yelps of pain for every little thing. While this is a neat touch at first, it gets old fast and that gets annoying after a while. The music is also rather lack-luster. The announcer can get rather annoying too. Thankfully, however, the game gives you an option to change the volume on its sound effects and music as well as the voices you hear, so at least you don't have to hear them if you don't want to. But then the game just seems too...quiet. No matter what I tried, I simply could not find the right balance of sounds.
Lasting Appeal - 7/10: As a fan of the Digimon franchise, I have always adored this game and supported it through its many critics. Unfortunately, the game does fall a bit shorter than I would have liked. There is no story mode or campaign or anything like that. There is a single "single-player" mode which you must play through to unlock...well...everything. Once you unlock all 8 Hidden Characters and 2 Hidden Stages and play around with them a bit, you'll quickly start to grow bored. However, it's always a game I like to pick up occasionally and play a few rounds.
If you are a fan of the show, this is a game I'd recommend for you. Especially if you also enjoy the Super Smash Brothers franchise. However, if you don't care for either of them, you probably will not enjoy this game nearly as much as I have.
12/21/12
awesome
this game made me have fun since the first time i played it. it was so cool that I've been trying to buy a copy and play it again.(i played it in an arcade place so it wasn't my game)
10/30/11