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Beyblade review

Game: Beyblade
Platform: PlayStation
Genre: Unknown
Developer: Takara

Reader review by yamishuryou

July 31, 2004

Do you want the manifestation of hell along with an agony that not even torture could dish out, all bundled up in a CD plus case for the low price of $14. 99? Look no further, for what you want is all in a relatively unknown Playstation game known by the title Beyblade! It’s guaranteed to make you retch, grab your head and repeatedly hit it on your controller to make the pain end, and convince even the most optimistic of people that there is no hope for humanity. If it doesn’t, well, you either must have plenty of cash to burn, or you somehow actually like this game. Note that the latter is impossible. Seeing as it’s the former, I recommend you pick up all the copies you see, and burn them. Every person you save from playing this despicable game is a person who might yet have the chance to see the light.

Takara Toy modified spinning tops of the past into new devices that were much easier to use. These are called Beyblades. Whereas in Japan, the toys were released and then followed up by an anime television show, the anime first came to America. With the newfound cult that sprung up at the arrival of the Beyblade TV show, there would certainly be no problem in selling the to-come merchandise. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, Takara took it upon themselves to release a poor game for some quick money. Thus did their bastard child, Beyblade for the Playstation spring.

I digress, though. Beyblade is all about customizing spinning tops and engaging fellow Beybladers in a warfare-like battle. The Beyblade is made up of five separate pieces; the Attack Ring, explanatory, the Defense Ring, explanatory, the Bottom, which determines rotational speed, the Bit Chip, which determines your Bit Beast, and the Spin Gear, which determines whether the Beyblade’s revolution is left or right. To start spinning a Beyblade, you equip it onto a Launcher. With the Launcher, you pull out a long cord known as the Rip Cord to unleash your Beyblade.

While battling, you can control your Beyblade’s direction to an extent. All the while, you’ll have to keep track of your opponents Beyblade, which will tear you to pieces given the opportunity. This brings Bit Beasts into play; majestic beasts that can cause some hefty damage, one per Beyblade. You can summon these mighty powers after gaining Bey Points, accumulated during the course of battle.

Of course, that’s the problem of the game. It has the potential, but it just doesn’t use it. There is no story at all. None. Just an available seven-match tournament for you to zip through in twenty minutes, and nothing worthwhile after that. Takara tries to keep the player’s interest in the game by introducing a currency system where a Beyblader gets money after every battle he wins, but it fails as most everything else in this game. The only thing the money can be used for is to purchase other parts – and there are so few in this game, barely breaking fifty altogether, that it’s barely worth it.

We also encounter the problems of graphics. One would imagine that a game released in late 2002 should boast at least some neat effects. It doesn’t. Somehow Takara got it into their head that they shouldn’t have graphics that are able to compete with games from 1995! Yes, 1995! Because this game operates on sprites, that’s why. Everything is a sprite, and the game doesn’t look pretty at all itself, with it’s stereotype that everyone likes only blue, black, and silver. Most of the Beyblade parts can barely be distinguished from one another.

Of course, what fans there might have been left probably would’ve scattered after what they heard from the soundtrack. One slightly catchy piece of music that gets old after five minutes, one extremely annoying announcer, a few roars during the Bit Beast attacks, and the generic sound of metal on metal as the Beyblades clash.

To conclude this review, Beyblade gets old quickly. You’ll want to return it after twenty minutes flat, and I feel way too generous giving this game a 2. Don’t give this game a chance. It deserves no lavishing praise.

Rating: 2/10

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