"Wild Force game's average at best, but at least it's better than the Time Force one."

A bit of a history lesson: in 1993, media guy Saban took a Japanese Super Sentai show and turned it into Power Rangers. It got big with the kiddies and as with any fad, games were made. And while the games weren't the highest of quality, they were still playable and if you could get a couple friends together (who were also PR fans), you could have a good time with some of these titles. But for a long period of time, there weren't any games until THQ snagged the rights. Now I haven't played any of the console releases THQ have done, but I have heckled with some of their handheld games, which are of questionable quality. Time Force was the first Power Rangers game on the then-new Game Boy Advance and I thought it was crap (you can check out my review if you like). Power Rangers Wild Force, the average follow-up series to the well-made Time Force series in the Power Rangers franchise, was also the follow-up game to the enormous crapload that is Power Rangers Time Force. How does this one stack up compared to its predecessor? Let's find out.

STORY: If you've seen Power Rangers, then you know the drill: bad guy terrorizes city, Rangers fight monster, monster dies in big robot fight, repeat the process for the next few levels. As one suspects from the title of this release, this game is based on the "Wild Force" season of the show... some generally despise it, others don't. Regardless, it's just a skin to the tried-and-true Power Rangers formula of killing monsters. Nothing new. 3/10

GRAPHICS: Wild Force's graphics are a little better than Time Force's graphics, but not by much. In fact, it's still pretty much reek of pixelated mess. Because everything is smaller though, you get the impression that the graphics are better. This isn't necessarily, but it's less of an eyesore than in the previous GBA release. 6/10

SOUND: The music in this game is somewhat tolerable to a degree, but to be quite honest, it's nothing particularly memorable and it does get really annoying over time. The sound in this game isn't all that great, but at least it's better than Time Force. 2/10

GAMEPLAY: Now in an attempt to shake things up somewhat, the game isn't a platformer, but rather an isometric-style action game, which allows for a different perspective and style of play in contrast to Ranger games released prior. In addition to choosing your playable Ranger, you can call upon three other Rangers of your choice to perform team-based attacks, which really adds to the game. Controls are pretty good too, so you can pull off these attacks with relative ease. That having been said, the game can get really tedious after a couple levels. There's not much to this game other than the straight-out fighting and zord battles (basically the same as in Time Force). Still, it's better than Time Force in spades... You might notice a trend in this review. 5/10

CHALLENGE: The game is a bit on the easy side. There might be a couple moments where you'll get overwhelmed, but nothing is too overly difficult or impossible. The challenge in the zord fights come from inputting the correct button sequence when the situation calls for it. It's like playing SIMON: following the sequence of the blinking lights. In either case, the game can be beaten quite easily, but it's not a completely shallow experience. 6/10

REPLAY VALUE: There's not to this game, so don't expect endless hours of fun. Like most GBA games, the package is pretty barebones in terms of features and modes, so there's really no incentive to come back once you've beaten it. Again, a commonality in most games of these types. 3/10

OVERALL: Now to be quite honest, I enjoyed this game a hell of a lot more than I did the Time Force game and the change in play mechanics was such a good move that makes me wonder why they went back to making their crappy side-scrollers for future releases. By default, it's one of the better handheld Power Rangers games simply because it isn't a mindless platformer... although don't get me wrong, it's still pretty mindless but it's a good mindless fun nonetheless... even if it ends up repetitive in the long run. If you're a fan of the franchise, this is a good worthy addition to your collection. And even if you didn't like the Wild Force season, the game is still a good game worth a try despite its name. Again, there are better titles out there, but you can't go wrong with this one. 6/10

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 12/26/06