Platforms: Xbox One (reviewed) and Microsoft Windows
It’s been over 25 years since the world has been graced with a Battletoads game. My first and only experience with the franchise came with the 1991 NES game. This game is infamous for its punishing difficulty and like a lot of people, I was never able to make it past the insane Turbo Tunnel level when I played it. While I do have some nostalgia for the series, I wouldn’t say I was clamoring for a return, but when I saw a new game was coming, simply titled Battletoads, I thought, “Hey, that could be fun.” Well that assumption was kind of correct, but unfortunately, it comes with a lot of caveats.
As the game begins, the Battletoads learn that they’ve been trapped in a simulation bunker for 26 years and after emerging they realize they are no longer heroes and that the world has forgotten about them. That sends them on a quest to claw their way out of obscurity. The story of Battletoads comes off more as a badly written Saturday morning cartoon, with attempts at humor that usually fall flat, rather than anything particularly clever or entertaining. I guess that should have been expected from a game that features heroes named, Zitz, Rash, and Pimple. That really is quite unfortunate because the voice acting and art/animation are rather well done and actually made the cutscenes bearable, but the actual dialog brought the entire experience down.
Coming into Battletoads, I was under the impression that what I’d be getting was a beat ‘em up action game, and that was true for most of the gameplay. The beat ‘em up sections are pretty standard when it comes to the genre with light, heavy, and special attacks. They go by different names, like morph attacks and toad abilities, but it’s all the same. You can play as any of the three toads in combat with Pimple being a slower, harder-hitting combatant and Zitz and Rash, playing almost identical to one another (which I thought was an odd design decision), being faster and having quicker attacks. These sections of the game were all fun enough if you’re into beat ‘em up gameplay, but unfortunately, this isn’t the only style of gameplay you’ll be forced into.
Outside of the beat ‘em up combat, Battletoads tries to incorporate way too many other styles of gameplay. It offers up everything from an endless runner style section to a bullet hell shooter to a side-scrolling platformer to mini-game collections, so there’s a lot going on. Hell, there’s even a couple sections that see the return of Turbo Tunnel style racing. Each of these styles of gameplay works mechanically fine, but at best they come off as boring and, at worst, frustrating and annoying. What makes matters even worse is that some of these sections go on for far too long, which I can only imagine is to pad out the absurdly short four-hour campaign. There are also a handful of puzzles sprinkled throughout that feel completely out of place and kill the momentum even more than the abrupt genre changes.
Each level also has a score attached to it and a number of generic collectibles that you can gather, so if you’re into score-chasing or collecting, there are some reasons to come back. If you happen to be a fan of the cutscenes, you can also go back and watch any of the ones you’ve unlocked at any time. I’d say the main draw for most players that are looking to have some fun will be the three-player, drop-in/drop-out co-op offered, but that’s only available locally so you’ll need to invite over some actual friends to play this one.
The return of Battletoads is a bit of a mixed bag. The core beat ‘em up gameplay can be fun and the voice work and cutscene animations are done well, but the actual dialog and implementation of way too many other gameplay types bring down the overall experience. If you’re a diehard Battletoads fan then you’ve probably already played this one, but if you’re only somewhat familiar or completely new to the series this is a hard one to recommend. On the bright side, it can be completed in an evening and with a couple of friends, so you could certainly do worse.
