One of my favorite shows I’d watch when I was growing up was the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers. Weekdays very morning during breakfast I would watch it while waiting for my parents as they were getting to take me to school. Even on Saturday mornings I would catch it on FOX Kids. I mean what’s not love: there was action, comedy, huge battles between monsters and dino robots and sometimes a life lesson. Over the years the show would grow in popularity and spawn several new shows. At one point there were a couple of specials that had Rangers from different shows teaming up together. Those were especially my favorite episodes. While there were several beat em’ ups and action/adventure games that were made, you would think that with all the action and martial arts in Power Rangers that there would at least be a couple of fighting games based on any of the shows in the past 26 years. There was one game, Power Rangers: The Fighting Edition but that one was based on the Zords and monsters. Now as Power Rangers celebrates its 25 anniversary nWay Games, the developers of the mobile game Power Rangers Legacy Wars, has stepped up to bring fans Power Rangers Battle for the Grid. Is this the Power Rangers fighting game that fans have been waiting for? Or is this just a stunt guy in a terrible looking monster suit?
IT’S MORPHIN’ TIME!!
Solid fighting mechanics- Fighting games live and die by their mechanics/system. They have to be both technical enough to entice pro level players to jump in but also easier enough for beginners to get a handle on. Battle for the Grid adopts a 3vs3 system that is similar to Marvel vs Capcom 3 and it works. Like MVC3, the game has light, medium, and heavy attacks with a launcher/special attack. Combos are easy to pull off and with enough practice, players are able to pull off some complex, even “broken” (more on that later) combos. Tagging in and out is just like any tag team fighting game, but Battle for the Grid allows for players to not only call in for an assist, that character that is pulling off the assist is able to tag in afterwards.
Story written by comic book writer- Over the years, story in fighting games have started to become an enjoyable part of the experience. Players have started to become more interested in the lore of the fighters and the world around them. This is where Battle for the Grid has an advantage, as the game’s story was written by Kyle Higgins. In fact the game’s story is based of the Power Rangers’ comic book event, Shattered Grid. In an alternate timeline Tommy Oliver, the Green Ranger, refuses to join the Power Rangers and continues to serve Rita Repulsa taking the name Lord Drakkon after a former acolyte of hers. Together they conquer Earth, but Lord Drakkon turns on Rita and kills her, taking over and forming his own army. His goal: absolute power and to show that he is the most powerful Ranger of all. So he crosses over to various alternate universes, killing other Rangers and taking their power coins for himself. It’s up to the various Power Rangers that are left to stop Lord Drakkon and set things right in the multiverse. The game does gloss over a few things, so if you’re interested in reading more about the where the game got its story from, be sure to check out the comics.
Rangers from different shows- Much like the special episodes of Power Rangers where the various Rangers teams team up, Battle for the Grid pulls from various Ranger teams to fill its roster. There’s the Red, Pink, Green and Yellow Rangers from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, the Magna Defender from Lost Galaxy, Kat Ranger from S.P.D., Mystic Force White Ranger from Mystic Force, Super Megaforce Yellow Ranger from Megaforce and the Blue Cenozoic Ranger from the 2017 Power Ranger movie. As for the villains there’s Goldar, Lord Drakkon, the Ranger Slayer, and Mastodon Sentries. While it is a small roster, it’s great to see various Rangers from different teams in one game at the same time. nWay even announced that there will be more Rangers and villains coming soon through a DLC season pass. However this isn’t really what most fans had in mind, more on that later.
Update 1 improvements- Battle for the Grid at launch was a bit of a mess. Online matchmaking was a bit buggy, combos were “broken” (depending how you felt about it), there was no story mode and only had nine characters. Not including character swaps like the Ranger Slayer and Pink Ranger. The game’s first update, Update 1 addresses a lot of these issues. It added in a Story mode, fixed online, re-balanced combos, and added in three new characters for free: the Blue Cenozoic Ranger, Udonna the Mystic Force White Ranger and the Yellow Ranger in Dragon Armor. The developers also stated that more changes and characters will be added soon when Season One of their season pass kicks off.
Finster! Make my monsters grow!!!
Poor starting roster- As I mentioned, the starting roster isn’t what most fans had in mind. Yes the game’s story is following the comic, so it make sense that it would use characters that are important in the comic’s plot. But fans expected to see more Rangers and villains. Now I know it would be a bit overboard to add in every single Ranger into the game, but it would have been nice to see some of the more popular Rangers on the roster. Or they could have taken the leader of each Ranger team and have them on the roster. It would also have been good to have more iconic villains added in too. Plus there are no the Zord battles , speaking of which…
No Zord fights- While Power Rangers: The Fighting Edition received mixed reviews back when it was released, the concept was beyond cool: a fighting game that had various Power Ranger Zords and monsters fighting each other. Sure the gameplay was bit slow and clunky but that was apart of its charm. It was a game based off a show that had stunt actors in over sized clunky suits of giant robots and monsters. Point is how cool would have it been to see the original Megazord face off against the say the Zeo Megazord or the S.P.D.’s Delta Squad Megazord? Not having Zord battles was a missed opportunity, but if the game does well maybe they could be added in for the sequel.
Barebones modes- Content in fighting games has come along way since the days of Street Fighter II. Modern fighting games now have some much more content such as in-depth training modes, online lobbies, time attacks, survival battles, and much more depending on the franchise. Battle for the Grid however, just has the basic ranked, casual, training, and arcade modes. Though a story mode has been added in with Update 1, that doesn’t chance the fact that the game has the bare minimum of what a fighting game is suppose to have.
Sloppy launch- Though Update 1 has made improvements to the game, that doesn’t excuse the poor launch it had. For starters it didn’t have a story, the online was buggy, starting roster was questionable and small (there were only nine characters at launch not including skin swaps), and (depending how you look at it) some of the combos were “broken”. Now most things have been addressed and more characters are coming soon, but it help to remember what went wrong during launch so that mistakes won’t be repeated for future updates or sequels.
Now despite the sloppy launch, barebone modes, no Zord battles and a questionable roster selection, Power Rangers Battle for the Grid is a pretty solid fighting game. The story was fun and enjoyable, thanks in due to it being written by the same writer who worked on the comic books. The fighting system was simple enough for beginners to get a hang of and complex enough for pro to be able to pull off “broken” combos and tag in a team memeber in the middle of their assist. Update 1 saw to improving several aspects of the game and added in a story mode. And let’s not forget the reason why anyone would want to pick up Battle for the Grid: the Rangers themselves. Yes the roster is still small and yes the selection of Rangers is only from four teams/shows, but with the first season of characters getting ready to be revealed and release, there is plenty of more to improve.
If your a fan of the series, old school or new era, give the game a shot. Pretty soon you too will think this game is Morphinominal.
