Game Boy :: Genesis :: NES :: Sega CD :: SNES :: TurboGrafx-16 :: Complete System Listings

Beyblade: Metal Masters review

Game: Beyblade: Metal Masters
Platform: DS
Genre: Action
Developer: Hudson Soft
AKA: Metal Fight Beyblade: Bakugami Susanoh Shuurai! (JP)

Staff review by Calvin Kemph

December 02, 2011

An enthusiasm for spinning tops and simple things is a requirement if you plan to enjoy Beyblade Metal Masters. It’s the limited kind of game one might make within the parameters of a toy line – one with bargain bin aspirations and a workmanlike application of known formulas.

Every battle begins the same way. On cue, the player injects their spirit into a dreidel by mashing a series of three buttons. This determines each top’s performance across a few attributes as it is spun into the ring. So much of a top’s performance relies on its initial entry that whatever follows feels a bit frivolous.

The combat itself is barebones. Much of it is based on typical fighting convention stuff: position, sequence and timing. It’s all very basic. What’s important is to launch well and to use special attacks frequently. Each Beyblade has an associated power animal which factors into some combos and can be called upon for a seven-second cutscene in battle. There’s no option to turn these off (or even an options menu at all) and they’re never very good. They don’t even show the animal attack; allies just arrive and the screen goes white.

The average bout only takes maybe twenty seconds, anyway. It finishes with a ring out or when an opponent crashed. Calling on your over-powered animal friend usually just extends the process. It’s time that you could – no, will – spend in the menus. Menus are drab and characterless, fitting for the game’s similar style and tone. The proceedings are mostly concerned with machines and adding mechanical-sounding things to them. Customization in Metal Masters isn’t exceptionally fun or interesting, just time-consuming. Why wouldn’t anyone just choose to auto-equip the best kit possible?

The common thread here is that the developers don’t care about the value of the player’s time and they don’t care about creating an experience that provides a worthy use of that time. The original Nintendo DS is going out of style faster than a 3D gimmick on prom night, and yet seven years after the hardware launched, this game's developers didn't utilize any of the defining tech that has been available at launch. There are no touchscreen controls and the top screen is seldom used. The frustrating thing is that the solution's in front of you the entire time.

If the true mark of success for a video game is its ability to sell that toy, Metal Masters is dire. There’s merit to the idea of familiarizing an audience with a brand, but here there’s nothing that would inspire additional interest in the license. Pokémon is far superior model of a game that understood the relationship a license-based game shares with its source material, one that’s so confident that it excels as a game even if you’re not familiar with the license. That’s Nintendo.

Metal Masters draws on some characters from the television show, but the lot of them are devoid of charm and only show freedom of individuality through their toys. Each one spins through a series of mind-numbing battles. Next to their opponents, those toys become console-pushing poster boys. Dialogue ranges from off-putting (one character talks only in mixed case) and much of it consists of non-exchanges that advance neither plot nor character. Perhaps at such points the game is remembering that there’s nothing worthwhile to say while waiting for tops to spin.

Beyblade Metal Masters is a lousy use of a license. The format is unpractical and the game’s best quality is that it carries the name of a license that children might like. There’s not much that developers can do with such a license without disrupting its core selling point: spinning tops. As a result, this newest release is a tough sell for just about anyone.

More Reviews by Calvin Kemph
	Trials Evolution (Xbox 360) The result may not feel like a revolutionary update, but it’s exactly the right way to pull off a quality Trials sequel.
	Puzzle Agent 2 (PC) Following the closure of his last case, Nelson Tethers is racked with guilt over the string of unsolved disappearances in the eerie, insular community of Scoggi...
	L.A. Noire (Xbox 360) It’s all about the contrast. The best way to describe the appeal of film-noir, as I find it, is in the stark dichotomy between black and white – the dissimilari...

Feedback

If you enjoyed this Beyblade: Metal Masters review, you're encouraged to leave feedback and talk about it with members of the site's community. You don't even need an HonestGamers account to get involved in the discussion. Please remember to keep your comments respectful and on-topic or they may be deleted by a moderator. Thank you for your understanding!

comments powered by Disqus

© 1998-2013 HonestGamers
None of the material contained within this site may be reproduced in any conceivable fashion without permission from the author(s) of said material. This site is not sponsored or endorsed by Nintendo, Sega, Sony, Microsoft, or any other such party. Beyblade: Metal Masters is a registered trademark of its copyright holder. This site makes no claim to Beyblade: Metal Masters, its characters, screenshots, artwork, music, or any intellectual property contained within. Opinions expressed on this site do not necessarily represent the opinion of site staff or sponsors.