Come along with me into the world of imagination for a few moments if you please. Think of our team, the wonderful people at Gaming Headlines who work hard to bring you up to date news, previews and reviews, plus much more, so that you are kept up to date with everything that is happening within the gaming industry. Now, with that in mind, put it together with Atari, sending us a friendly E-mail (as they do) telling us that some more of their amazing and groundbreaking games are coming our way. Now, I am sure that you would imagine us jumping from our seats due to the excitement, and we did, until we read down the list and saw “Digimon Rumble Arena 2”. In all honesty, each of us fought over the other games and me, accepting any game so that it would give me a fix, pulled the short straw (Yet, where it came from, I have no idea) and so the title was sent to me.
Short straw, long draw who gives a damn! I am hooked on the Digimon pain! And all of the others at Gaming Headlines are kicking themselves when I tell them about it because they all gave it up and dumped it on me. Featuring more than 40 playable Digimon forms, from all four series – all with their own unique evolutions and moves to master, ten different modes of play in single and multi-player in which up to four players can compete against one another in all out brawls and more secrets that you can unlock, this game is full of non-stop Digimon action!
Digimon Rumble Arena 2 does not have a form of story as such; it is simply a battling game. However (and this being one of the few points that lets the title down) this does lead to a lack of length in terms of playability. With an excellent base for a game – all of the Digimon available to battle with, new and interactive arenas and inventive multi-player modes – it is a shame that it was all, in a sense, wasted. Not being new, Digimon already in its fourth season, it is an expansive creation with numerous stories that have led the much-loved characters down paths of adventure, discovery and battle. There is not a lot of this that comes into the game. Yes, it is not an adventure game, it is a fighting game but there are none of the actual human characters from the series in sight, all of the arenas are not taken from the cartoons and there are other such things that could have been incorporated into the game so that it was more ‘Digimon’.
Simply put, it is just a fighter with monsters. And although those monsters are Digimon creatures, the game still lacks that unique character. When I first turned on the game, I sat down and started to play, I just went onto a quick battle mode and as soon as I was in actual control of my Digimon, it felt like I was playing Super Smash Bros; it is the same format. However, even though Super Smash Bros is in the same format as Digimon Rumble Arena 2, it had its own unique fighting stages, with added items such as Pokemon balls to be used for fighting or special stages such as tiny mode and big mode, just like the mushrooms from the Mario games. It even had its own adventure mode that, in some levels, played very much like any of the old style Mario, Donkey Kong and Metroid titles.
Though this is not a review of Super Smash Bros, it was the best comparison to use and Digimon Rumble Arena 2 lacking its own characteristics and features is very important to how one perceives the game.
In terms of game-play, the game is excellent. I enjoyed every moment I was on it and as I said, I was truly hooked and played it continually throughout the day until I was forced to have a break.
The basics are very easy to get a hold of. There are four primary attacks; a simple claws, feet or fist hit, a unique, special attack such as a fireball, ice breath or howls, then when you are close to your enemy you can grab them and throw them around the arenas or by using a combination of the normal and special attacks, you can perform a series of moves on your opponent. As soon as you get into the game you will get the hang of things and learn how to control your Digimon effectively. Once you have got these mastered, you can then move onto better things.
Each time you hit an opponent---any opponent---they will drop blue egg like orbs. Below your health bar there is a blue one and for every orb you collect, it will fill up that meter by a little bit until it is full. When it is full, you can then Digivolve into your next form. When you do this, all of the controls will be the same, however, you will find that the action moves that your Digimon performs are not; they will have their own punch and special moves. It does not stop there either! When you have Digivolved to your highest form, you can then fill up the blue bar one more time until it is full. Now being as powerful as possible, pressing the Digivolve button one last time will unleash an ultimate attack this will destroy things about you and cause your enemies serious damage.
All of the arenas within the game are interactive. With over ten to play in, there is a wide variety of locations for you to try it out against the other Digimon or just to have a fun bash about with all of your friends. With the arenas ranging from Jungle Ruins to the Danger Gulch, Lava Lake to Pier 47, Rubber Tree Falls to The Cannery, Steam Works to twisted toy town and Ice Palace to Chaos Wasteland (plus others), you can test out all of your skills. Being interactive, this means that rocks all tumble down if you slam into a wall, platforms break to make you fall into rivers of lava, bridges snap and smash and pipes blow out steam. This is one of the excellent points to Digimon Rumble Arena 2. As in other fighting games, there might be other things happening (i.e. the starfox team trailing behind and shooting from their ships in Super Smash Bros.) but never before has the level itself done such a thing, not all of them anyway (as the lava on the Metroid level in Super Smash Bros was about as good as it gets).
Not only are the many arenas to battle it out in to claim the title as the Digimon champion but there are also near ten different modes of play too. These range from the normal knockout to timed rumble, poison (where the Digimon that is poisoned when the time runs out dies) to Digi race (in which you have to evolve into your highest form and perform a super move three times in order to kill off your opponents), little vs. big (some of you are huge but others are tiny!) to spirit collection (the one who collects the most orbs wins) and king of the hill (for every three seconds you stand on the hill, you get points) to crazy chase (every time you snag a tag on calumon, you score points).
You can also unlock and extra mode of speed to up the pace in all of the above modes.
As if all of those arenas and modes were not enough already, there are also special ambush battles; whilst you are merrily playing through the game, a dark Digimon can challenge you to a fight and if you succeed in defeating it then you can use it.
Working along the pyramid, in any direction you please (they go from easy to hard), you will soon get to the end and come across an ‘end boss’. Each of these range in difficulty depending on which path you have taken. The first end stage that I got to I was challenged by a dark knight like Digimon with two red blades. Now, I am in no way a Digimon fan but that character has to be one of the coolest I have seen in a long while, even out of all of the RPGs I play. It was a surprise and a shock and even though not all of the Digimon are all so cool, this is a game that has a wide range of audience to appeal to. Whether you would not go anywhere near it with a barge pole or if you would pounce on the title because you just love Digimon, the game itself is excellent and thoroughly enjoyable.
Being on the Xbox, although I hate to admit it, as I am a hardcore Nintendo fan, the game is presented excellently, keeping inline with the cartoon/anime like style of Digimon with clean and bright graphics.
Each of the Digimon themselves, all being designed with their own physic, colours, horns, tails, fluff, claws, wings, noses, tentacles, etc, are shown here in their true form and movement and at times you could think to yourself that you were watching an episode. All of their attacks, normal or special, are executed with a smooth frame speed, with burst of colour for the flames and strong, bold beams of plasma. Running, jumping, climbing, punching, there is no end to the design splendour and although all of these listed above are just basic things that you would expect in any game, when they are done well, it is noticed and the enjoyment of the game increases because you are not picking up on faults or glitches.
As said, all of the levels are interactive and full of life and colour. The river flowing through the jungle runs over the rocks and under the bridge with brightness and shade, the trees round about have the rough bark texture but shape like real trees with detailed, green leaves that tumble to the floor. Within the lava level there is flaming hot lava that slow creeps by underneath you as steam rises up from it and the dark stone cavern you are fighting in glows in areas and the heat intensifies. Battling on Pier 47 there are swinging platforms, metal crates, shining lights in the night sky behind you and a dark and ominous hole beneath you. All of this and much more is of such great design and detail. These are all such unnoticed items, lava being expected on a volcanic level or trees on a jungle level but everything has been carefully thought of, placed and designed so that it all comes together as one good game.
Not only do the graphics blast onto the screen but the sound blasts out of the television too; it truly is an all out rumble! All of the Digimon’s roars, cries of anger, pain and victory will sound around the arena as you punch, claw, bite and free your opponents until they cannot take it any longer and their poor squeals and tears will only make you want to hurt them more.
With all of the effects that occur within the arenas, you will hear wood splintering, boulders crashing, rivers raging, cranes activating, cans popping and much, much more.
The soundtrack too is of a very arcade like theme. With the title screen appearing colours start flashing and hi-tech like menus light up, the music then begins to pump out in a techno/rock like style. Having this rock theme throughout all of the menu selections and also the loading screen before each battle, when all of the Digimon are taking part, their pictures on triangles, appear, slamming and interlocking into one another to form the square of the screen, the entire game seems to have a very ‘hardcore’ like feel.
Of late, the gaming market has been absolutely flooded with ‘serious’ like adventure games, if you take my meaning. Although titles like Return of the King, the Third Age, Killzone, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and The Getaway: Black Monday are all very good and best selling games, there have been too much of this type (though titles such as Demon Stone and Smack Down vs. Raw were in the top class of their genres) and there has been a great lack of simple fun.
At the end of the day, gaming is entertainment. Many of the games above are what people see as entertainment and yes, you can delve deep into them and enjoy a thrilling, adventurous or exhilarating experience whilst playing them but sometimes you just want to go wild, hang loose and smash about on a game that you can pick up and start right away!
Digimon Rumble Arena 2 is just that; an excellent fighter where you can get together and smash about some Digimon within detailed and interactive arenas when your friends are round and you are wanting to have a laugh---“Lets see who can hit Arumon the furthest!”. However, playing the game as a single player holds just as much enjoyment and when playing through the harder levels you will have to pay attention as some of those Digimon might not be as attractive as they look. Being a good game and a very good example of its genre, Digimon Rumble Arena 2 is a definite buy for some good old fun. However, a game to delve into, aim to complete and master, there is just simply not enough; there needs to be more in the way of extras, modes, levels and more importantly, Digimon, as there are more than fifty! With a storyline and more in the way of making this title Digimon, then it could have been a true monster fighter.
Tobias Rowe
