Score: 7.5 – Nintendo Wii – $49.99
Bakugan. Two years ago, much like name like Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh and various other soon to be Japanese trends, the word “Bakugan” would have meant nothing to the average person, and especially not to any children or parents. Now, it is an obsession selling DVDs and tiny shape changing balls that play a game that could be described as a combination of Magic: The Gathering, the Transformers and marbles. Activision has taken this license that has become popular enough to earn itself a spot as this month’s McDonald’s Happy Meal toy and brought it in to the video game world.
Gameplay:
As mentioned above, the Bakugan game plays much like a combination of a collectible card game and marbles. Players place cards on the field that contain magnets in them. They then take turns rolling their Bakugan, trying to land on a card. Players try to steer their ball towards the appropriate card while their opponent takes pop shots to divert the ball in the opposite direction in a shooting gallery style minigame.
When they do, the small Bakugan ball will pop open, revealing the monster inside. When two monsters land on the same card, their stats are compared and extra cards are played to enhance the power of the monster. The Bakugan with the highest total wins. This formula ends up translating really well in to the video game format.