Beyblade: animal, mineral or vegetable? I’ll I can say is I’m lucky my five year old son wanted to see the new game I was about to try out. I started the game ready to kick some butt.
Hey the package says Beyblade. This game is obviously about sword play. Much to my surprise I found myself playing against a spinning top. "WHERE THE HECK ARE THE SWORDS!" I screamed at the television. Then my five year old chimed in "They’re supposed to be tops Dad. Don’t you know anything?" Suddenly I felt the curse of old age creeping up on me. Hey this is the latest and greatest thing right? I gotta see what all the hype is about. The problem is… I didn’t.
The game starts out by asking you to name your character and select one of two Beyblades. Then you get the option to choose Free Battle or Tournament. Free Battle lets you pick one of ten characters to play against a friend or the CPU. In Tournament mode you compete in matches with various characters.
Before the match begins you have to launch your Beyblade. A meter at the to left of the screen fills up and you have to press the A button(Gamecube) before it reaches the end. The closer you get to the end of the meter the better the launch. Then game then proceeds as two tops battle it out.
If you are successful in defeating your opponent, Bey points are awarded and between matches you get to go to the store. This is where you upgrade your Beyblade with new parts. Unfortunately, I saw no different in the actions of the Beyblade after we purchased ‘bit chips’ to give us special moves.
To win a Beyblade match you have to knock the opponent out of the ring or beat the top up so it stops spinning. It seems that knocking the top out of the ring is the best option. That about sums it up. Why do kids love this game so much, I have no clue. Maybe I’m old and out of touch or maybe it’s just a goofy game.
The thing is, my five year old just keeps playing and playing. He has the little tops in real life and plays against his friends at school. It’s an important part of his life and the game seems like a realistic extension of the top-filled arena.
My opinion on Beyblade: five year olds will love it. The graphics, the music and of course seeing the word WIN appear on the screen are all geared toward that audience. If you happen to be in the 11 to 35 year old range you can definitely skip this game. It isn’t very interactive, the instruction book was very confusing, and I think you would be better off buying the toys .
However, since I am obviously not the target market for this title, I have reviewed it based on how the game looks from the five year old level, which apparently is pretty darn good. If you have young kids, they probably know more about Beyblade than you ever will, and will likely have the same reaction my kid did, which was total enthrallment.
Silly rabbit this game is for kids.