Bakugan: Battle Trainer Review for Nintendo DS

System: DS	Review Rating Legend
Dev: Magic Pockets	1.0 - 1.9 = Avoid	4.0 - 4.4 = Great
Pub: Activision	2.0 - 2.4 = Poor	4.5 - 4.9 = Must Buy
Release: March 23, 2010	2.5 - 2.9 = Average	5.0 = The Best
Players: 1	3.0 - 3.4 = Fair
ESRB Rating: Everyone	3.5 - 3.9 = Good

The combatant with the most points wins the battle, but the losers points are deducted from the winner's score. So, it's quite possible to be successful but still have a severe lack of points. You can take up to three Bakugans into battle with you. The turn-based combat allows you to choose your opponent. The A.I. will do likewise during its turn. You can see your enemy's powers before you enter into battle.

Bakugan: Battle Trainer screenshot

Graphically, the game is clean, clear, and colorful. There's not a lot going on animation-wise, but the scores, stats, and meters are arranged at the bottom of the top screen where they are out of the way of the gameplay, but convenient enough to keep track of with a glance. There are only about 30 Bakugan characters to collect. The animation and voiceovers are limited, but they do look decent. The music is forgettable, but the sound effects are convincing, if a little sparse. Most of the action will be found during the mini-games where you'll be forced to use the stylus for most commands. It works well, obviously benefiting from having the mini-games designed around the control scheme. Let's not forget blowing into the mic, or perhaps we shall.

It will be interesting to see where the developers take the next Bakugan game. Wherever they take it, they had better add a multiplayer component to it, even an ad-hoc system would be better than nothing. I can't recommend this game to fans of the series, since it's so far from the beaten path. Nor would I recommend it for newbies, since they won't learn how to play the original game. Then again, the entire franchise may be heading in this direction, but something tells me this version is just an anomaly. It's up to you if you want to spend your money on this gaming experiment. I would advise approaching it with caution. And by caution, I mean renting or borrowing it.

By Cole Smith
CCC Senior Writer

RATING OUT OF 5

RATING DESCRIPTION

3.0

Graphics
Clean and clear layout. Lazy on the animation.

4.0

Control
The stylus is put to good use. Accurate execution of commands.

1.9

Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
Forgettable music and sparse, repeated voiceovers.

2.2

Play Value
Entertaining for a few short hours at best.

2.3

Overall Rating - Poor
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.

Game Features:

Players level up their Bakugan by performing a variety of training methods between epic brawls.

With over 25 Bakugan available to collect in Bakugan Battle Trainer, players have an enormous amount of choice when it comes to training their creatures.

As Bakugan triumph over enemies, players will gain opportunities to acquire new skills.

For the first time, Bakugan fans find out first-hand what happens before and after the brawls.