Digimon: All-Star Rumble Review

Digimon: All-Star Rumble

Developed by: Prope

Published by: Bandai Namco Games

Available on: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

Release Date: November 11th 2014

The latest gaming iteration of the classic anime adventure is upon us. For fans of the series this may be somewhat enticing, but for most this release will go unnoticed, and perhaps for good reason.

Digimon: All-Star Rumble is, in essence, a fighting game akin to the Super Smash Bros. series. This may seem like an unfair comparison since the series has excelled in the genre over the years, but I thought it might be an appropriate benchmark seeing as the both come from Bandai Namco Games. Digimon’s multiplayer mode is reminiscent of the Nintendo classic, as is its single-player mode that focuses around your character of choice fighting other playable characters as you rise through the ranks of a tournament. However, when it comes to overall quality, they differ greatly.

While Digimon is an entertaining enough game to play with friends, it lacks some of the fast-paced, reactive elements that make fighting games so fun and competitive. The characters move around slowly, making chases and charges anticlimactic and boring. The 3D plain on which you fight makes this a bigger issue than if the maps were created in the more traditional side-to-side model of games like Super Smash Bros. and Mortal Kombat, since walking around to get power ups emphasizes the problem.

The single player campaign is a good way to get accustomed to controls and character moves, however. You fight through weak characters and simple level designs en route to face other playable characters as your make your way through a tournament. These encounters provide ample opportunity to use new moves, and adapt to the different match types available (seeing as each level has you fight a different way). However, the generally slow pace of the characters makes this a chore to go through more than once, especially given the amount of walking you have to do.

The multiplayer mode is an overall better experience. Up to four players can participate in a number of game modes including a variation of “capture the flag,” a traditional death match, and many other creative choices that allow you to diversify your playing experience. You can also choose from an abundance of playable characters, some of which you need to unlock. Unfortunately, however, the actual gameplay isn’t quite as diverse as the game modes and characters.

The slow and clunky fighting is easy to get used to, but the fact that your character can evolve after reaching a certain hit count, makes the game slightly less compelling, and causes the balance of power to shift constantly (but predictably) within each fight. The evolutions are significantly more powerful than other character, and while they only last for a few seconds, they can deal more than enough damage. As a result, other characters’ best option when an evolution takes place is to run, since no real damage can be dealt. However, even this is difficult since the evolutions are much faster.

It seems as though there was a missed opportunity here. If the characters were all made generally faster, and if evolutions were playable characters as opposed to short-lived, unfair power-ups, this could have been an incredibly fun game. Don’t get me wrong, it has its moments and is an entertaining way to spend a few fights at a time. But unfortunately there is no desire to binge on Digimon: All-star Rumble in the same way there is for the more renowned fighting games around. Maybe next time, though.