Rave Master: Special Attack Force [GC]

Folks may recognize the Rave Master name from the anime on the Cartoon Network. The show dishes out a decent story populated with mildly interesting characters. And like most imported anime, the overall story arch takes a back seat to action, enormous rays of multicolored light and whatever mischief the main characters happen to get sucked into. The show's fun, sure, but it's about as deep as a dinner plate. The Rave Master brawler from Konami feels exactly the same way. It serves up decent fun, but you'll find yourself burning through the experience quickly.

Rave Master basically follows in the footsteps of frenzied brawlers such as Powerstone on the Dreamcast and Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. series. The story in the Rave Master television show is pretty shallow and it's even worse in the game. But no one would ever buy this game for riveting narrative anyway. It's all about the action. Luckily, Rave Master busts out a decent amount of anime-inspired ass whoopery. Like most modern brawlers, Rave Master splits between a number of different game modes.

You can jump into the single-player Story Mode or play against four friends in VS Mode. If you're a total loner and still want to play a four-character battle, the CPU will handle the three remaining characters. In addition to these, Rave Master also offers Free Mode, where you can battle CPU controlled characters through eight stages. So, pretty basic stuff. Where Rave Master tries to set itself apart from the competition is through its funky, musically-inclined theme and magical artifacts called Rave and Shadow Stones. These stones temporarily alter your abilities, depending on which type you equip. The game boasts three different classes of these stones, including: Offensive, Defensive and Special Attack type.

You can equip up to three different types of stones at any time during a fight. You find them by smashing open crates scattered throughout the stage, or after defeating an opponent, in which case the downed foe will drop whatever stones he/she was carrying. If someone takes you down, then you'll spill whatever stones were in your inventory. Rave Master also boasts a number of weapons, each of which feature different strengths, weakness and special attacks. Every character starts a fight with their weapon of choice, except for the ones who prefer using their knuckles, of course. You can still drop your weapon with a tap of the Z button at any time to pick up another, but that's not always a great idea (more on that later.)

Each character has one weak and strong attack, as well as a block and jump attack. Rave Master controls well, for the most part, if not a little sluggish at times. Characters just don't change direction very well, especially when running at top speed. They'll slip as if on icy terrain for a few seconds before recovering, during which time serious damage can be taken. Many of the weapons feel a lot heavier than they should be also, making swinging them around in the heat of battle somewhat of a suicidal affair. Apart from this, Rave Master plays and controls as you'd expect. The action is mostly furious, especially when playing against three friends and the story mode is a string of bouts held together by inconsequential dialogue and plot devices.

Every character in the game claims his or her own Ultimate Groove Attack, and they can only execute it when brandishing their weapon of choice. One top of this, you need the right combination of stones. But it's usually worth it. The "UGAs" inflict a serious amount of damage to any character in the arena. What's more, they usually last for a decent amount of time, doubling their damage potential. They also look mighty cool, so pulling one off during a frantic fight spices the game quite a bit.

Graphically, the game does a fine job of recreating the anime in 3D. The animation looks smooth and the special effects get the job done. The environments, while nothing extraordinary by any means, don't make your eyes bleed with utterly heinous textures and design. The characters themselves look bland, however, even though they animate smoothly. The special attacks, including the Groove Attack and Ultimate Groove Attack, look nice but won't blow you away. Again, they're nicely animated but lack serious pizzazz. As far the sound goes, it's pretty mediocre. You'll swear you've heard these voices and tracks a million times before. Better than completely sucking, but ultimately uninspired.

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