Big Hero 6: Battle in the Bay (3DS)
Big Hero 6 is Disney’s newest computer animated feature film, and it’s like watching a rollicking two-hour long Saturday morning cartoon. Now you can continue the adventures of Hiro, Baymax, and the rest of the gang on the 3DS. This game isn’t based directly on the film, but rather a continuation of it. Battle bots are wreaking havoc on San Fransokyo, and it’s up to Hiro, Baymax, and their college friends to suit up and save the day once again in this 2-D action brawler platformer.
In each level, you’ll play as one of four characters, each with their own skills and abilities. Hiro can use electromagnetic beams to push and repel objects, as well as stick to certain surfaces. Wasabi uses plasma cutters to slice through robots with melee attacks. GoGo is super-fast with her roller wheels and disc projectiles. And Fred in his monster suit can breathe fire and jump really high. You’d think that you’d be able to play as Baymax, since he’s the star of the movie, but not in this game. Baymax will fly in from time to time to help you fight, but that’s it.
Another character you don’t get to play as is Honey Lemon. But she provides support from behind the scenes. As you explore levels and defeat enemies, you can pick up bright pink chemical doo-dads. Collect enough and you can tap on one of Honey Lemon’s capsules on the touch screen to help you out in battle, as they can stun or confuse any battle bot on screen. Other pickups to look out for are health refills and pieces to upgrade your health meter. Find hidden items like Hiro’s cat in every level to unlock characters to view, and spell out HERO secret icons to unlock challenge stages, too. You can also enter in cheat codes in the options screen (hint: look for a handy code in the in-game instruction manual).
The platforming isn’t the best in the world, as it’s hard to tell where bottomless pits and certain goals are. But at least you get unlimited tries and checkpoints are frequent. Also, Fred’s attacks are pretty useless. Touch screen menus are also not as intuitive as they should be. But if you have a young Big Hero 6 fan who wants to continue the adventures, then they may enjoy this game anyway.
Kid Factor:
Big Hero 6: Battle in the Bay is rated E-10 with an ESRB descriptor of Cartoon Violence. You can punch, kick, zap, and scorch bad guys, but they’re all robots who just explode when defeated. If you’re OK with your kids watching the movie, they’ll be OK with this game, too. Reading skill is a must for the text, and younger gamers may get frustrated at the tougher levels and challenges. The movie is a lot of fun, though. Take your kids to see it.
November 15th, 2014 at 12:32 am
I might end up seeing the movie over Thanksgiving. Dunno if I’d like the game though. Not a fan of not seeing obstacles like pitfalls.
You often say if you’re ok with kids seeing a movie or TV show, you’ll be ok with them playing the game it’s based on. Has there ever been a time this wasn’t the case? Maybe a Japanese TV show was fine for American kids, but the game wasn’t as heavily edited before it came over here or something?