Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Mega Battle is a 2017 2D beat-em-up fighting video game developed and published by Bandai Namco.  Released by Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, and Playstation4 and follows the Power Rangers who spring into action after a series of mysterious towers have been placed all around Angel Grove.

Positives:

• Decent score
• Fun gameplay

Negatives:

• Short campaign
• Lackluster story
• Overly simple controls
• DLC sucks
• Lacks replay value
• Lackluster graphics

Campaign: The campaign is not long by any means.  It consist of only six stages that take no time getting through and a story that isn’t engaging or even deep.  It does take liberties with the origin which isn’t bad but there is nothing to the story other than the badguys have shown up and we have to stop them.  The characters do have enough emphasis to make them different.  The campaign can be played single or up to 3 others locally.  Sucks all kinds of balls that there is no online. (2 out of 5)

Gameplay:  It does feature a good control system that is pretty simple though still fun.  Like the classic beat-em-up, health, and energy, are dropped by destroying objects with experience dropping from fallen enemies.  The same with the leveling up system.  The more players gain experience the more levels players attain with give points for gaining special combos and weapon attacks.  One that was pretty cool was players starting off normal and after building up their energy then morph.  Many of the enemy AI do seem stupid as they will walk around and stand around before attacking players.  The Megazord segments are a bit of a mixed bag.  The giant battles start off with the signature robot in Tank Mode where players shoot the monster’s weak spots and fired projectiles.  In the complete form there is the quick time events where players mash different button combinations and their effectiveness determines the robots’ attacks and defense and even experience.  All-in-all, the game does offer a great opening thrill but quickly dissolves into a generic, repetitive beat-em-up.  Definitely has that Castle Crashers feel.  A talent tree allows players to improve their characters abilities focusing on Martial Arts (team attacks), Weapon (heavy attacks), and Bluffs (health and energy). (2 out of 5)

Graphics:  The graphics are good for a 2D side scrolling game.  The animation isn’t anything new but the color schemes are very vibrant.  The Putties and their face expressions bring a lot of humor.  The cutscenes work for a beat-em-up game but as a Power Rangers game in 2017 it definitely is lacking.  It would’ve helped greatly had this game had more prominent 3D elements or had this been 1990. (2 out of 5)

Score: There are throwbacks to the original series that gives the game a certain air of familiarity.  However, it does do much for keeping the game energetic though there moments where the music feels bland and even comes up short.  The sound effects feel on point.  The lack of voice performances does feel cheap and could’ve added more depth to the game. (2 out of 5)

Replay Value: The DLC does suck balls.  There are characters added but in reality serve as alternate costumes rather than unique characters.  If characters were going to be introduced should’ve been more diversified.  Some of the extra stuff like the Boss Rush Mode (pits players against each boss in timed succession), Versus Mode, Theater Mode (watch all of the cutscenes), and the Challenge Mode (players go through different levels filled with enemies) do help to relieve players of replaying a dull, linear campaign but it unfortunately doesn’t keep the game a float. (2 out of 5)

The Verdict:  In the end, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Mega Battle is far from being a great game.  Despite the initial exciting gameplay the game loses its uniqueness spiraling into a generic mush pit. Although the game has a fun gaming experience and decent soundtrack, the game is definitely lacking an interesting story, repetitiveness, unoriginality, and lackluster graphics, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Mega Battle gets 2 out of 5.