Launch A Top To Do Battle With Another Top

A while back I was looking for something to watch on t.v. when I noticed a new anime called Beyblade on Fox. I watched it for a few minutes but it didn't really interest me. Then about a month ago I seen a Beyblade game for $10. There was nothing that I really wanted so I just bought Beyblade. I knew it wasn't going to be anything great considering it was one of the $10 games. After playing for a while, I'm neither impressed or disappointed. While It's all right to me, a fan of the show should appreciate it more.

What is a Beyblade?

A Beyblade is basically like a top. They are used and built by people known as Bladders for battling in a Beyblade match. Bladders launch their Beyblades with some kind of launching device into the BeybladeArena. Now I don't know if the beyblades are controlled by bladders or spin around randomly, but they bang into each other attempting to knock their opponent out of the arena.

Gameplay

In the game you assume the role of a blader in which you choose their gender and name. You'll build your beyblade by buying better parts from money you win in the tournament. That's all you'll really be doing so it does get repetitive.

The Beyblade tournament is the main mode of the game. You pick which one of your beyblades you want to use at the beginning to enter the tournament. Each tournament consists of 7 matches. You'll face characters from the show once you get into the forth match which is also when things start to get harder. After each match you get 10 beypoints which can be used to customize your beyblade.

The battling is actually pretty fun. It starts off by you picking your gimmick for the round, I don't really know how these work but it's got something to do with launching the beyblade into the arena. After that you'll launch the BB. A bar will appear on the screen and it will fill up fast. Hit a button at anytime while the bar is filling to determine a spinning power for your BB, the more filled the more power. In certain situations you can hit the square or circle button to do a special launch that will require legendary power. Spinning power is the amount of time your BB can spin for. The number on the bar will decrease by one each time it spins and if nobody has won when the BB stops spinning then it will lose. The legendary power required for special spins is the power for special moves and spins. It starts at 10 each match and goes up by 5 each time you hit another beyblade.

The battles take place inside a bowl like arena. The two beyblades are launched in by the bladders and they bang into each other attempting to knock each other out or break each other. Your beyblade will also have HP. After getting hit so much it will lose HP. Once it loses all HP it will break. You can repair it after each fight in the tournament but it will temporarily lose stat points. A match is one when a player gets 2 points. You get points from knocking a BB out of the stadium or breaking it.

The other mode is the free battle. You can fight 2 player here or just fight against the computer choosing any characters. I don't find much use of the mode besides the 2 player, but I only play alone anyway. It would have been cooler to be able to set rules for free battles, like time limit and number of rounds.

The last thing to do is customizing your beyblade. This is very confusing for a while, but not bad once you get used to it. You spend your money earned from the tournament here buying parts for your beyblade. You buy things like spinners, launchers and bases. The more expensive, the more it improves the beyblades stats and stuff. However, it does get annoying when you just bought an expensive part and you can't equip it because of another thing you have equipped. I don't know why it does that, but some things can't be equipped at the same time.

Graphics

The whole game is menus except for the battles. You just see the arena that the beyblades battle in and the beyblades. The arena looks like a bowl with the openings up top to knock the beyblades out of. You don't see the character or anything so there isn't really anything else to say.

Sound

The only real sounds you get are the beyblades clashing together, which sounds decent. The music is about average, something that you'll like during the game, but won't remember later on. It's cool that the opening intro is the intro to the show and that has a catchy song. The only voice you'll get is the announcer and he sucks. He'll keep saying the same things over during a match like "A big hit" or "Unbelievable." His voice gets annoying but the matches don't last that long anyway.

Final Comments

Beyblade is an average game that would probably be enjoyed more by a fan of the show.

Random Info.

Year of Release: 2002
Console: Playstation
Genre: Action
1-2 Player(s)

Final Rating: 5.2/10