Reviewed: April 15, 2005
Reviewed by: Roger Cox
Publisher
Konami
Developer
Konami JPN
Released: March 9, 2005
Genre: Fighting
Players: 1-4
ESRB: Teen
4
6
6
3
5.9
Supported Features:
Screenshots (Click Image for Gallery)
Based on the popular TV anime series, which first aired on June 5, 2005 in the US, Rave Master finally gets its own video game. Fans might want to be weary of this game; it’s a little weak on nearly every aspect. I’ll let you decide.
Story: “Fifty years ago, an epic war raged between the forces of light and shadow, ending with a massive explosion that scattered the lights precious Rave Stones throughout the world. Now, young Haru Glory, the new Rave Master, must journey to uncover these legendary Rave Stones, the only force powerful enough to defeat the evil of the Shadow Stones. Armed with the magical Decaforce Sword, Haru joins forces with Elie, a spunky girl trying to remember her forgotten past, and a lovable creature named Plue. Together they attempt to unlock the secret to the destiny that has brought them together. It is a journey of heroism and self-discovery. It is the adventure of a lifetime.”
Features:
- A story mode
- Free Mode (Arcade fighting style, no story)
- Up to 4 player simultaneous versus mode
- Loads of unlock-able bonus material
So I pop in the game with hopes of a good anime inspired title only to quickly find out that this fighting game has the most basic controls I’ve used since the NES era. I mean really, I’m only using 2 buttons (A and B) the entire time I play through on easy mode. After falling asleep once and beating the game I realize that there must be more to this game than pressing “A” to do a hard smash attack, “B” to do a combo move, jump, and block so I whip open the instruction manual. That’s when I realize that the items I had been picking up actually do something that wasn’t obvious to perform.
In order to use these items, I must press the “R + L” button in order to perform the “Ultimate Groove Attach” and the “R” button to perform minor Groove moves. Although I pressed the “R” button during my first outing, I must not have had the required amount of “groove” to perform the special attack.
Ok, now that the game had become a little more dynamic I decide to attempt playing through on normal mode. This time around the game has become a little bit more lively and a fraction of an inch more entertaining. Needless to say I feel asleep again 2/3 of the way through the story mode (thank goodness you can skip the story).
In terms of gameplay there isn’t much. You are set in several different arenas to fight a single enemy or several enemies depending on the map. There are no rounds to fight, just a single round in which each character (you included) has 3 lives. You goal obviously, is to kill all the enemies before they kill you. I’m sure most of you have played a game like this before and Rave Master isn’t any different. For your convenience and viewing pleasure I will explain in greater detail how the simple fighting system works.
As you fight in a small square arena boxes and items will randomly appear on screen. Boxes contain everything from weapons to power-ups. You can collect one of each colored power-ups. Other items show up during the battle that will fill your Groove meter allowing you to do a special attack or add extra defense to y our character. Besides that, you will rely on blocking hits and performing basic/very repetitive melee attacks with the “A” and “B” buttons.
The games controls are very simplistic and for the most part easy to learn. The main problem I had was the sensitivity issue when performing the “Ultimate Groove Attack” which requires you to press the “L + R” buttons. The problem here is that you would naturally assume pressing the buttons down at the same time would work, but it isn’t that easy. Instead you must lightly press down on the “L” button and then lightly press down on the “R” button each time you wish to perform this special attack. It’s very annoying, but can easily be mastered if you can figure out how to do it because the manual is no help. Other than that the controls are very adequate.
The best feature this game had to offer is the “EX.Option Mode.” In this mode you can look at event screens and listen to character lines from stories that have been cleared in the story mode. It’s amazing how many audio files there are for each character in the game, there must be 500 or more in total. These bonuses are what people are looking for and may help sell the game to fans of the series.
Rave Master has very basic, but at the same time solid graphics. What I mean is, although the models and levels are solid, they are not special in any way. They are simple characters and levels with very little attention to detail. The level designs are nearly all square areas that lack creativity and flair. As you can tell by the screen shots, this game isn’t strong graphically, nor is any other aspect of this game. On a positive note, the character animation is very smooth and there were no frame rate issues (go figure).
The music is fast paced, bouncy, and keeps with the TV’s theme music. Nothing was particularly great, but the voice acting was good. Unfortunately it mainly consisted of grunts, groans, and annoying one-liners by each character. Overall, the sound in this game suffices.
The story mode is extremely shot and can be finished in 15 minutes with each of the 5 playable characters. And when you consider that 4 minutes goes to being forced to watch the credits each time that would leave you with 11 minutes of gameplay if you choose to skip the lackluster story.
When it comes to value, only the hardest of hardcore Rave Master fans will get their money’s worth. I can’t see anyone getting more than two hours worth of fun out of this game. Even the multiplayer feature is just as weak as the main game because of its lack of abilities and special attacks. The only thing saving this game is the extras that are included, but even those are limited. Good luck finding much value here, there just isn’t any.
Rave Master is a TV series game that was obviously forced into production. It lacks good gameplay, story, graphics, and most importantly replay-ability. Even the hardest of hardcore fans should merely rent this game. Simply put, this game will put you to sleep faster than reading a book on the history of anthropology.