ic-games Review - Digimon Rumble Arena 2 Review - Reviews, Previews and Interviews for PC, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3 and Wii

ic-games Review - Digimon Rumble Arena 2 Review - Reviews, Previews and Interviews for PC, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3 and Wii ic-games Review - Home - Review, Preview and Interview for PC, Xbox,Xbox 360, PS2, PS3 and Wii

Digimon Rumble Arena 2

Digimon Rumble Arena 2 Review

Information
Reviewer: James Collins
Developer: Black Ship
Publisher: Atari
Reviewed: Xbox
Genre: Action
UK Release: 15th Oct 2004
Article Date: 06th Dec 2004
Difficulty: Easy
Retail Price: £19.99
Price Comparison:
0

Score Breakdown

Experience:
Game Play:
Graphics:
Sound:
Overall Score: 55%

Discuss this review in the Forums

Pros

Great for kids

Budget price

Cons

Very repetitive

Screenshots

2 of 7

Digimon: Rumble Arena 2 (for some reason the first one must have slipped by us somehow) is the latest game from license holder and toy maker 'Ban-Dai'. With the knowledge that the game was being produced under the team that should know the franchise best IC-Games were hoping for good things from Rumble Arena 2.

Straight out of the box Digimon: Rumble Arena 2 features three main game modes, Single player, multiplayer and practice. Multiplayer allows up to four competing Digimon fans to knock the stuffing out of each other using their own particular favorite. This mode should provide the most fun as there are many different multiplayer modes to choose from. First time players will only have access to the Timed Rumble and Knockout mode but after unlocking the game completely you'll find yourself with a further eight modes to play with. These include game modes like 'King of the Hill' which involves guarding a flag for as long as you can from the other Digimon (you get one point every three seconds guarding). And 'Poison' which is a rewrite of the popular kids game 'tag'. Whoever has the poison will lose HP's all the time; the only cure is to give the poison to someone else. The last Digimon standing wins.

The controls are simple and easy to learn and they need to be because of the target audience. You can attack with using just two basic buttons. You can also jump, throw and when the time is right, digivolve. You can also chain together and mix up your attacks by using the directional pad. The digivolve feature is only activated when a Digimon has filled up their power bar by landing hits on the opposing players. When the meter is filled by simply pressing the digivolve key you'll turn into an even more powerful Digimon. At this point you'll be awarded different attack moves and more powerful hit points.

In each stage (depending on the mode you are playing) power-ups will appear in set places during the fight. These can swing a battle in your favour so they are always worth collecting. There are twenty different power-ups available in Digimon: Rumble Arena 2 and whilst some power-ups are just plainly frustrating (like 'sympathy pains' for example) others, such as the 'Sleepy Time' effect quickly wipe smug grins from your friends as all the Digimon's on screen (except the collector) fall asleep allowing for some cheap hits.

The arenas in which the Digimon fight are pretty impressive for a budget title. In a similar vain to 'Dead or Alive' the fighting arenas are pretty destructible which allows you to inflict even more damage onto your opponent. For example rock structures can be destroyed exposing lava lakes, manage to throw or force a Digimon into the Lava and you can almost guarantee a sneaky kill. It's also pleasing to see multiple theme arenas which adds to the longevity as each new arena will require a certain strategy if you wish to be successful. Kids will also love the sound effects as they feature all the original Digimon voices. Your standard dance music plays in the background but is certainly nothing special.

Digimon: Rumble Arena 2 isn't a bad title if you are obsessed with the TV and toy counterpart; it has pretty good graphics, destructible arenas and decent enough multiplayer modes. If you're a Digimon fan you might be able to excuse the average (and at times frustrating) gameplay or ignore the shallow single player experience. Anyone else though should drop this title in preference to 'Soul Calibre 2' and 'Dead or Alive 4' as they are far superior titles in every way and they can currently be brought for the same price. Its a cop out we know, but Digimon Rumble Arena 2 is for serious fans only.

Discuss the Digimon Rumble Arena 2 review in the Forums

IC-Games RSS Feed

IC-Games Reviews and Previews (c) 2002-2007

Designed by James Collins

To have your product featured contact The Editor
Found some news? contact The News Desk
PR Dept - Andrew St.Denis
Additional Coding by James Collins and Phil Douglas
Get credited, submit breaking news at The News Desk
Want to hire one of our journalists? Enquire here
Want to see your advert on site? Enquire here

Ic-games.co.uk banner Ciao.co.uk

Find the best console offers for the video game lover like Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii and all types of PC games.

Xbox 360 Games

Internet bingo is played by large and a vast amount of gamers, so you’re sure to make a network and friends. Whatever age or gender.