Power Rangers S.P.D. Review by: Sidewinder - 8.8/10
Old, but still good!Graphics: 8/10Let's start with the main characters of the game, the Rangers. Their colors vividly rip open the screen (lol)- a blur of red, blue, yellow, pink, and green, cutting up the bad guys like there was no tomorrow. Their sprites are clear and compact, making it very easy to follow their actions in the game.?
The scenery is absolutely fine, fits right in with the game play. You won't be constantly stopping, admiring the craftsmanship of the scene, but it won't be an eyesore while playing either.
The bosses...as far as I know, growing up and watching the evil bosses in Power Rangers, they always had such intricate, ugly, frightening costumes. Since they are so intricate, being an old GBA game, the bosses won't be as detailed as they are actually in the T.V. shows. I feel there was minimal detail spent in making the bosses actually look scary and ugly like they actually are.?
Sound: 7/10The soundtrack is pretty much the same throughout the game with the few exceptions of bosses, etc. Since this game takes quite a long time to finish (if you don't play it all through in one outing), the music will be a bit annoying after a while. Nevertheless, spending time mashing the B button will take your mind off the bland soundtrack for the majority of the game, and there's nothing wrong with muting the game anyway. The game is not heavily dependent on the soundtrack, so you can play this game muted and not really care about the soundtrack.
Addictiveness: 5/10For the majority of the game, you will be pressing the B button quite a lot. It is very much so like a hack n' slash game. As for addictiveness, this game is pretty much the same the whole time, save for a few exceptions. Most of the time, you are pressing the right arrow key and the B button, not much of a hook for someone looking to play this game. However, looking back on certain missions I had to overcome when playing, there were certain parts that I really liked and kept playing over and over, even after I finished it. Certain parts may be fun (this is opinionated, it us up to you to decide if the "mini-games" are fun), which may bring you back day after day to play, however the whole game is not like this and you may very well get bored in the middle of the game and never play this again.
Story: 3/10Now, looking up at addictiveness, one important part that plays a role in being addicted to this game is the story. Without a good story, this game is a bust and you would never really play this again. Make for a few fun parts as I said earlier, the rest is just boring stuff. Boss terrorize the city, defeat boss, he is shot. New boss terrorizing city, defeat boss, boss is shot...not much of a story, huh? The only thing keeping you anchored to this game is the hack n' slash aspect of the game. If you don't like hack n' slash, then this isn't for you.
Depth: 3/10
The depth of this game does not go very far due to its lack of a solid story and its low addictiveness. The missions really do not go that deep, just hack your way through some bad guys, occasionally try to find things, but that's really it. Noting the "trying to find things" part, it isn't much of a treasure hunt when the Ranger you play has the ability to find the items anyway - it's like hide n' seek, but you know where everyone is. In the end, there is nothing to delve into when it comes to depth.
Difficulty: 6/10Hack n' slash games are quite easy, so the same applies here. The bad guys pose no threat (just try not to use the speed button, it really messes things up), and the "obstacles" thrown at you are just too simple. The reason why Difficulty has such a high rating for me is due to the fact that the bosses are actually hard! Obviously, that much should be true, but to be honest, there is quite a gap between the difficulty in the mobs vs the difficulty of the bosses, kind of throwing things off the balance. Most of the bosses take quite a long time to beat - you really really need to consider strategic times to hack n' slash and times to use your ability (the blue, yellow, and pink really have the most useful abilities). Bosses may take many times to beat because you simply cannot mash B repeatedly against them - they spam certain attacks as well, disrupting your character.?
Overall, this game brings back a lot of memories for me since I used to play this long long ago. Of course, me being a child back then, I thought it was a hard game. Now, almost a young adult, this game is really not so amazing as it was back then, but nostalgia just keeps me coming back.
Graphics
8 Sound
7 Addictive
5 Depth
3 Story
3 Difficulty
6