Tenkai Knights is a toy line and anime series on Cartoon Network. The story goes that in a parallel universe exists a cube-shaped planet, and its inhabitants can shapeshift from blocks into robotic warriors.  The denizens of this planet have endured a centuries-long war over their Tenkai energy source.  When it seemed like evil was about to take over the planet, a group of four brave robotic warriors called Tenkai Knights appeared and drove away the bad guys.  Now the evil is back and stronger than before, and a new generation of Tenkai Knights is needed.  For some reason, four teenage boys from Earth are transported to the war-torn planet to become the next batch of robotic fighter Tenkai Knights.  And now you can relive the action of the cartoon with Tenkai Knights: Brave Battle for Nintendo 3DS.

The game is a 2-D action brawler platformer. In the main Story Mode, you must complete missions that follow the story of the cartoon.  In each section you may have to defeat a certain number of enemies, survive for a certain period of time, or defeat a boss.  You can plod left or right, jump, and use weapon attacks like sword slashes, guns, spears, and more.  Really the big problem with this game is the clunky controls.  Your characters move like heavy robots, and if that’s the feeling the programmers were going for, they succeeded.  If you jump straight up without pressing left or right beforehand, you won’t be able to control your ascent or descent, which can be frustrating sometimes, too.

There is also a Versus Mode where you can battle waves of opponents or go one-on-one. The cool thing about both Versus Mode and Story Mode is that you can go alone in Single Player or try Multiplayer with another local 3DS owner with a copy of the game.  The game also has a heavy emphasis on customization.  In any mode, when you defeat enemies they may drop different colored cubes.  Collect and combine them to make new weapons, shields, and other goodies to equip to your fighters.  Only problem is that it takes a lot of these cubes to make an item or weapon, so you’ll be playing for a long time before you can make and use any of the good stuff.  Because of the sluggish progression and clunky controls, I think only huge Tenkai Knights fans will get the most out of this game.

Kid Factor:

Tenkai Knights: Brave Battle is rated E-10 with ESRB descriptors of Fantasy Violence and Mild Language. I didn’t see any bad language in the text so far, so it must be used very sparingly.  You can slash, skewer, and shoot other robots with weapons, but opponents just fall over and disappear when defeated.  If you’re OK with your kids watching the cartoon, they’ll be OK with the game.  Reading skill is needed for the text, and younger gamers may get frustrated at the clunky controls and tougher levels.  Luckily you can select the difficulty on the options screen.

Tags: Game Reviews, Television