Before spending time with Bakugan: Battle Brawlers, I have to admit that I knew very little about this adolescent phenomenon. In fact, aside from having to navigate past wide-eyed boys grasping Bakugan products every time I walk down a toy aisle, I’ve had no prior contact with the franchise. The game is clearly not aimed at me specifically, but does it do the cartoon and toy line justice? More importantly, will kids like this game enough to stay home and play it so that this thirty year-old man can peruse the G.I. Joes in peace?

The premise of Bakugan shares many similarities to other popular monster-centric collectible card games. There’s a group of anime-styled kids that each have their best bud monster along with various other elemental themed monsters known as Bakugan. Rather than just having monster cards, however, Bakugan are spheres that transform into representations of their true supernatural forms. The game still includes cards, but the cards play different supplemental roles like modifying the effectiveness of the different Bakugan.

Before the battle brawling begins, playing decks are formed consisting of three Bakugan, three Ability Cards, and three Gate Cards. The goal of each round is to be the first player or team to capture three Gate Cards from the playing field. Capturing Gate Cards is achieved by either landing two of your own monsters on a card or by winning a battle against an enemy’s monster on that card. (There’s also a third more complicated method, but this is starting to read like the underside of a Milton Bradley box top, so I’ll skip past that.)

Since Bakugan are spheres there’s some action added to the strategy. You don’t simply place them where you want them, but you throw them out into the arena with a swing of the Wiimote. You can try and damage already transformed Bakugan that are standing on the board by ramming them with a Sphere Attack or try and steer the sphere around the arena picking up various power-ups by tilting the Wiimote. The gameplay at this point resembles familiar marble steering games with hidden areas to explore and contraptions that will bounce the Bakugan about the stage. Whichever way you choose to proceed, you’ll need to end up landing on a Gate Card or you will forfeit your turn and lose all the power-ups you collected.

When two opposing Bakugan land on a Gate Card, they will battle and the Bakugan with the most G-Power (basically an attack/health meter) wins. Prior to fighting, the Gate Card will flip over and any attribute effects will be added to the monsters’ base stats. Players also have the option to play an Ability Cards to increase their G-Power as well. Additionally, the arenas themselves have elemental themes, so certain types of monsters will be weaker or stronger depending on their elemental alliances.

While monster attributes and ability cards are the foundations of winning a Bakugan battle, the fight itself involves a mini-game that also increases G-Power. There are three different mini games, and the Gate Card you are battling upon determines which you play. There’s a shooting gallery game, a timing game, and a forearm crippling shaking game. This is the Shake Weight for the younger generation – a generation full of Popeye-armed super strategists if Bakugan: Battle Brawlers becomes a hit.

Regretfully, I’d have to say the mini-games are what make me question how long kids are going to stick with the game. Though there are a few different versions of each mini-game, I found myself quickly wishing for more variety – especially since the battles are so frequent. There is a lot of game here, though, with several different tournaments to work through, up to four player local multiplayer, and 106 Bakugan and 188 cards to amass. I actually thought the collection aspect could have been spruced up a little as well. Acquiring new cards and Bakugan (as well as upgrading Bakugan) simply comes down to spending battle-earned Bakugan Points at the store. Not the most exciting method of collecting, but it does encourage kids to think about budgeting how best to spend their stash.

In reviewing this game, I tried to put myself back in the shoes of a ten year-old boy. If this were a property that I was crazy about at that age, I think I’d be happy with Bakugan’s first videogame outing. It’s a solid game that allows kids to play with a lot of the show’s characters and monsters while teaching them a fair amount of strategy at the same time. As long as your kids don’t mind the repetitious mini-games, I think you’ll find Bakugan: Battle Brawlers to be a quality kids’ title that has a great deal of content.

Fair
Outstanding | Very Good | Fair | Poor | Awful

Recommended Buy Price: $30.00
Current MSRP: $49.99

Bakugan: Battle Brawlers was provided for review by Activision. The game was played for four hours completing three out of the eleven tournaments and collecting fifteen Bakugan and twelve cards. Bakugan: Battle Brawlers is also available for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, and Nintendo DS.