Digimon Rumble Arena 2

"I'd like a little depth in my furry creature beat'em up!"

Digimon, Pokemon, Wang Chung, it doesn't really matter anymore. Like this game should you rent it for oh...about an hour. This is a 2D platform fighting game much like the Super Smash Bros. games. Only this one features Digimon.

STORY
I personally grew up with Pokemon, so I never gave Digimon a look on tv. I barely know anything about the story or characters. This game doesn't help me in that department, because there is no story whatsoever. You fight round after round, you win them all, and you get the end credits. Woo hoo.

GRAPHICS
The graphics are poor. The locations are all different and nice to look at, but that's about it. Many of them are just odd stereotypes like the Western level, the oil rig, and the mayan jungle! Boring. The Digimon themselves are very round at least look kinda good. The coolest looking thing in the game though? The menu. Seriously the menu is like this pipeline inside of a computer, and it's trippy cool! But that's about it.

SOUND
The audio is some pretty generic stuff, and literally the only voice overs you'll hear are "I won, I won!" or "___mon digivolved to...___mon!" There's one song that is always blaring throughout the game and it's looping or something, so it'll drive you nuts. The voices are annoying, the music is annoying....and that announcer? Don't get me started on him.

GAMEPLAY
The gameplay won't help either. This is supposed to be like Super Smash Bros. Melee, minus the cool abilities, power-ups, or depth. One player mode consists of...winning 7 battles in a row. (cough) That's about it, you do this so you can unlock the incredibly cheap Digimon who kill people by thinking it. Seriously the hidden characters you unlock are not balanced at all. And an even worse crime? They can all be unlocked pretty fast. Once you've unlocked one of the hidden powerhouse Digimon, you can easily beat the rest of the challenges with no problems at all. Lack of difficulty, check.

Like Smash Bros. you fight on platforms in a 2D type place, double jumping and fighting to the death. Too bad the characters suck. None of the Digimon have a good enough reach, they can't grab on ledges, the levels are horribly made and just not fun to play through (yes all 10 of them), when they're hit in the air, they can't move! Easiest way to win the last battle: let them come to you, grab them, and throw them off the edge. The character you throw, won't have any way to escape that dumb death. Even in the Smash Bros. games they could at least double jump to safety after being thrown off! This technique is cheap, but luckily the computer never uses it against you.

During the battles you and your opponents drop energy balls everytime your hit. The more energy you have, the quicker you'll be able to Digivolve! In reality, trying to fight and collect orbs is distracting and bad for your gameplay. And the powered up character? Meh. You're better off being a tiny guy and throwing your opponent off the cliff. The power-ups don't make things even either. Invincibility? Extra Life? Three times the strength? What the hell?!! If your opponent gets a powerup, may god have mercy on your soul. There's four player multiplayer...but honestly who wants to play a broken game? This game is dull. What I've described is literally all there is to the game. What else can I say? Oh I know! Avoid this game at all costs.

IN THE END...
It's completely forgettable, and only for the Digimon fan. Lame audio, lame graphics, lame gameplay, and just no depth whatsoever. Just get the Super Smash Bros. games instead.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 12/04/06