Saban’s Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Mega Battle review

Saban’s Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Mega Battle, released on 01/17/2017 (in early access on PS4, but already available on Xbox One as well), is a re-creation of memories many of us have from the 90s: co-op arcades and Power Rangers! The game features local co-op for up to 4 players. Following the molds of the most traditional beat-em-ups closely, Mega Battle adds small improvements and brings in established mechanics from other genres.

Story: 7

The game retells the original season of the Power Rangers series, the one you watched on Brazil’s Sessão da Tarde afternoon block and made the gestures along with the actors at Morphin’ Time. Players take the role of the 5 young people chosen by Zordon, an intergalactic entity who shows only his head in a crystal tube, to protect their city against the invasion of aliens led by the cruel Rita Repulsa.
The story is told over a series of 6 chapters directly inspired by the TV show’s episodes, each chapter made up of 3 levels.

Mechanics: 7

Mega Battle is a quite traditional beat-em-up. There is a button for quick attacks, a button for stronger attacks and one for ranged attacks – the last two consume stamina that regenerates over time. There are options to grab/throw opponents, block, dodge and perform combos.
Being a game from the Power Rangers franchise, the Morphin’ mechanic is present: at the start of play the players are in their human forms, weaker and with commands limited to movement and quick attacks only. After dealing and taking a certain amount of damage, the characters gain a glowing aura that indicates they can Morph, putting on their Power Ranger uniforms and enabling all their initially restricted powers.

Throughout the game the characters gain experience and, upon leveling up, earn points that can be used to buy upgrades that include attribute improvements, combo expansion and new attacks.

There are passages with gameplay variations, including first-person shootouts during the combining of the Zords and Quick Time Event passages during the climactic duels between the Megazord and giant monsters. Don’t let prejudice against QTEs carry you away: here they are well executed and increase the “final showdown” feeling… Besides being extremely fun when playing in cooperative multiplayer mode – after the play session, this was the most praised and memorable part of our group experience!

Audiovisual: 10

The presentation is the game’s biggest success. The cartoonish visuals look taken directly from some official 90s Power Rangers comic. The game runs with perfect fluidity, with no frame rate drops.
I’d like to give a special highlight to the game’s soundtrack, which is what stirs the nostalgia the most. There are arrangements of the series’ original songs, but also new songs that match the original ones perfectly – which gives you that strange impression of already knowing the song, even without having heard it before. In general all the audiovisual aspects blend harmoniously, working to create an authentic sensation of time travel straight back to our childhood.

Final Thoughts

If you are (or ever were) a fan of the Power Rangers franchise and/or appreciate the beat-em-up genre in general, this is certainly a title that should be on your shopping list!
If you regularly get together with friends for living-room play sessions and enjoy cooperative experiences, this will be a valuable addition to your digital library.

SCORE

Mechanics = 7
Audiovisual = 10
Story = 7

OVERALL: 8.0

PlayStation 4 version