The Bakugan phenomena is quite popular with the younger market and Activision have released a game based on this popular franchise that involves cards and fighting. Although based Bakugan the card game which involves the player putting down magnetic cards and then carefully rolling a Bakugan onto the cards, the developers have pretty much replicated the gaming system quite well. Once your Bakugans are on a card, you then need to engage in the battle system which is similar to those other card games available on the market but the magnetic cards does put a unique twist into this franchise.

Features

• 24 action packed levels with 8 Battlefield environments

• 6 unique arenas

• 35 Bakugans with 2 all new 2 uniques

• 19 human characters with 2 uniques ONLY available in the video game, each human character is customizable

• Over 200 player cards: 12 never before seen

• More than 250 unlockables

• Full Story Mode, Tutorial, Single-player and Multi-player

However when it comes to the game, the younger gamer must compete in the Ultimate Battle Tournament and allows them to fight other Bakugans and even tweak them with more skills and powers. By winning fights, you are awarded more G-Power cards which assists your Bakugan in the battles that they face.

Like the card game, the battles are generally reliant on the cards that you have at your disposal. Although you have a set number of Bakugan at your disposal, these can be upgraded to be made more powerful and of course have their pros and cons which is where the tactical aspect of the game comes into play.

There is even a story behind this card game that revolves around Rikku who dreams of joining these legendary battles with his Bakugan. As fortune dictates, his friend Dan decides to lend him a Bakugan and as he experiences the fighting first hand, his fortune shines on him even more and he discovers a new Bakugan that will allow him to compete.

Although never playing the original card game before, my 12-year old nephew has informed me that the game is quite accurate, although noted that it is more fun. Probably due to the inclusion of various mini-games that include a shooting game, a shake game which requires you to shake the controller to boost up your G-Power and a timing game.

Like the card game, you need to throw your cards onto the battlefield and by shooting them, it unleashes them and when an enemy is near, they transform into these mythical creatures to fight. With this in mind, it seems that the game would have been more suited to the Nintendo Wii, due to its more sensitive motion controls and for the older gamer, it really doesn't offer you much, however with that said, the game has definitely been created for a target market. I would have also liked to see more hands on fighting but then again I could always go to Tekken 6.

Apart from the various single-player modes, the game does allow up to four players to compete to locally that is definitely for fans of Bakugan and rather than competing against AI opponents, you can fuel your focus on real players which for me was a little bit more fun. Of course, it does help being a fan of the franchise.

Graphically, the title has a cartoon feel to it with some over the top special effects, well animated monsters and an easy to navigate menu system. There are even some interesting cutscenes to help progress the story along as well. The sound effects are good as is the soundtrack which suits perfectly as is the over the top voice acting!
 
At the end of the day, if you're a fan of the series, you'll definitely be putting this under your Christmas tree or getting someone else to but for the older gamer, it's quite lacking any true concepts that we can understand. If you are a fan of those real-world card games that are so popular now, than you might want to give Bakugan: Battle Brawlers a chance. The only other issue is that unlike the real card game, this title loses its portability factor which may be an issue for fans of the genre.