Digimon Rumble Arena

"I must admit I chuckled evilly when I destroyed Patamon with a talisman sphere attack."

When Pikachu made his fame on Super Smash brothers. Digimon wanted a piece of the action. Now they have it in the shape of Digimon Rumble Arena. (Please note. I like Digimon so you may find that I am a little bit biased with this review so don't get mad at me.)

Even though this game in my opinion is a copy of Super Smash Brothers, it is actually quite playable. No, scratch that. It's quite good.

Graphics 8/10
This is the mark that knocked the game down. The graphics don't just blend together and that's really noticeable. If I had played this before SSBM (Super smash brothers Melee.)
I would have given this game a nine. But after seeing the graphics on Nintendo's beat-'em-up I think that either

a) Digimon really screwed up on the graphics
or
b) Nintendo is very good at graphics.

Sound 10/10
This is where the game excels. The have taken all the best voices from the series and really worked them into the game well. There is nothing more satisfying than hearing Henry tell Terriermon to digivolve before blasting your opponent out of the arena. The music is nice too, I have no idea where they got it from but they got it right. They are rather quiet but they add a nice feel too it.

Gameplay 10/10
The controls are nicely spread out so you won't find yourself pushing the wrong button too often.Gameplay wise unlocking all the secret characters will take you a long time. So don't plan on having this one done by lunchtime. Of course with beat-'em-ups you always have replay value and you and your friends will have a good time. As long as you both like Digimon. The computer is fairly easy to beat but the big daddy is dead hard. There are also the Mini- games, which provide a nice change from blowing up strange little dinosaurs. These games include throwing balls through symbols to get points, hitting a punch bag to digivolve before your opponent and throwing basketballs into a moving hoop. These are rather childish but the game pans out well with them. So this game comes second in my beat 'em up list.

Round up

The Good Points

Great sound quality
Rather long to complete
Plenty of replay value.

The Bad Points

Not very good graphics
Non-Digimon fans may not like it.

Rent or buy?

If you like Digimon, buy this game. You won't find much wrong with this game.

If you like fighting games rent this game. There is a good fighter under all those little furry monsters. You just have to find it.

If you don't like Digimon or fighting games. Do not buy this game. Apart from the Mini-games,there isn't much else for you to do here.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/03/03, Updated 01/03/03