Rave Master: Special Attack Force

I must confess that I’m not completely familiar with the Rave Master cartoon or comic book until I tracked down a few episodes of this original Japanese anime. What I discovered was a series of interesting characters with their own unique abilities and story as they venture off on a quest of discovery and great danger. Far out, I thought to myself, this would make a great game. Thankfully, Konami thought so to and brought us Rave Master: Special Attack Force! - a fighting game that brings these great characters to our GameBoy Advance. Is this a game fans of the cartoon or comic books will enjoy? Please read on.

First of all, the choice of introducing the series as a fighting game can seem a bit questionable. Watching the few episodes I managed to track down I thought the series would make an excellent RPG, but then again wouldn’t it be fun to see what it would be like for characters like Musica to fight Sieg Hart. The game’s Story Mode takes place six months after the main hero, Haru, looses his father in a battle against the uprising of the evil Shadow Guard. You see Haru is entrusted with some Rave stones, thus making him a Rave Master. As a Rave Master, Haru sets out to find the remaining rave stones but thankfully he is joined by his friends. This quest takes him on a journey to find “The Memory of the Stars” and unlock its mysteries. Of course, Haru and his friends weren’t expecting the powerful enemies ready to stop them.

You can begin the game by assuming any of the available nine characters like Haru, the amnesic Elie, gang leader Musica, the sexy mermaid Celia, casino owner Ruby, elemental master Sieg Hart, a palace guardian named Let and ex-Shadow Guard Reina. To top it all off you can even play as the odd pair Griff and Plue, which are pretty bizarre creatures that look like a miniature snowman and a glob of gelatin with arms. Each character has his or her own abilities, weapons and fighting styles. For example, Elie uses tonfas and can perform a slide attack plus unleash an uncontrolled etherion attack. Meanwhile Haru uses a sword and can execute a dual explosive attack plus a Blue Crimson mid-air attack.

Each character even has two Battle Cry moves that can be pulled off by pressing the left shoulder button. Battle Cry moves have different effects for different characters and they’re good for when you need that extra attack range, speed, increased defense and even limited invisibility. There’s more! To win a battle in this game you can’t simply keep beating your opponent until his life meter drops down to nothing. If you want to end a fight you have to pull off a Special Attack. Special Attacks can only be attempted when the Tension Gauge above is filled (you’ll know when the gauge is filled because it starts glowing). The screen changes when you’re pulling off a Special Attack and you have to mash both the A and B buttons repeatedly until your character pulls off the attack. Think of it as a Mortal Kombat-styled finishing move (minus the blood, of course).

Strike an opponent on the ground and you might just enter Duel Mode that has you attempting to successfully push all the directional instructions the screen tosses at you. Winning a duel isn’t easy since it's timed, but if you win you’ll have the advantage and the other character might just drop their item. You see each character has a key item they must possess in order to pull off a critical or special move. You’ll often find yourself falling hard after a critical move and your key item will drop. This will have you chasing after your item before your opponent finishes you off.

The game also includes four other game modes: Ranking Battle, Free Battle, Link Battle and Training. Free Battle just allows you to pick a fight with any character plus ones you managed to unlock during Story Mode. Ranking Battle has you forming your team (you can even name your team and pick its members) as you go up against other teams for the top ranking. Link Battle allows you to play against up to four friends using GBA Link Cables. Imagine fighting four friends at once in an all-out battle or teaming up with a friend to take on CPU fighters or two other friends.

Just about the only major gripe I have with this game is that Story Mode isn’t as fulfilling as, say, a Tekken game. Sure, each character has his or her own introduction but you don’t get any real payoff at the end. We know the Elie is trying to recover her memory and learn more about who she is but we don’t get cutscenes learning a bit more about why she has amnesia in the first place. The same goes for Reina whose story is complex yet very interesting. Still, this is a fighting game and the game manages to bring us a solid fighter with plenty of challenges. The fights can be timed but if you like to take your time you can switch off the timer in the options menu.

Visually, Rave Master is a great-looking GBA game with colorful and nicely detailed environments. You’ll fight on the deck of a ship at sea as it rocks and the rain pours down or even underwater in Celia’s territory as bubbles rise up as you fight. The characters are tiny but nicely detailed but when they pull of a Special Move or enter Duel Mode you’ll get anime-styled renderings of the character. The effects are flashy and look great in action.

Even the sound is good, although the rock tune in the game’s main menu is pretty embarrassing to play out loud and it really doesn’t make much of an impression during the Story Mode’s introduction. Still, there are some great sound effects, particularly when a character manages to pull of a Battle Cry. You’ll hear Musica yell out something like “I won’t hold back like Haru!” or hear Reina yell out “Do you want to play?” before she smashes into her opponent. There are plenty of other sound effects that work nicely here.

Rave Master: Special Attack Force! has all the right elements that make this a pretty decent fighting game for the GameBoy Advance. There are some things I wish the game could have handled a bit differently but what you’ll find is a game with loads of characters, good fights and a really fun multiplayer match. If you like a good brawler, give this one a shot.

Gameplay: 7.5
Each character has his or her own specialty move, critical move and weapon, but the cool part about Rave Master is that you have to unleash a Special Move to finish off your opponent. This does lead to longer fights but thanks to the fact that the Special Moves require you to successfully mash some buttons and the directional pad means you’ve got your work cut out for you.

Graphics: 8.2
Many of the environments have wonderfully detailed backgrounds but what steals the show is the neatly rendered characters and the flashy combo effects and special moves. Unleash a battle cry and you’ll be treated to a cool effect geared towards your character’s personality. Yet pull of a Special Move and you’ll really see the sparks fly.

Sound: 7.0
The rock guitar riffs aren’t very cool but at least the slashing and pummeling sounds are great. Each character has his or her own battle cry that’s composed of some sound bytes and thankfully you won’t hear them repeated very often.

Difficulty: Medium
The fights get a bit harder in Story Mode and taking on Gale or King isn’t easy at all. If you want a much deeper challenge you can always adjust the time limit. In short, this is a challenging fighting game that isn’t as easy as it looks.

Concept: 7.5
Even if you haven’t checked out the cartoon or read one of the comic books, Rave Master has some pretty interesting characters although it may seem odd for fans to see Haru battle his close friends. Still if you’ve always wondered who would win an Elie-versus-Celia fight, well, here’s your chance. There are also plenty of stages plus some bonus stages and extra characters to unlock.

Multiplayer: 8.0
Up to four players can fight each another at once using GBA Link Cables and with a nice number of characters to choose from it’s a great way to battle it out with friends (that have their own copy of the game, of course). You can also team up with a friend for team battles. Really, it doesn’t get any better than that.

Overall: 7.5
Rave Master fans will find a lot to like about this fighting game that offers all the things we like in a brawler. Sure, Story Mode lacks a real story and sometimes the fights can get just a tad repetitive, but with good graphics and unique characters with their own fighting style this is fighting at its most entertaining.