Ahhh what would the world of gaming be – or the world of movies, for that matter – without remakes and reboots. The title of the day is a new adaptation of Power Rangers, coming to theaters in less than a month. And, predictably, game developers are capitalizing on the hype by releasing Power Rangers: Legacy Wars, a fighting game for smartphones and tablets starring the latest versions of the characters from the show, expanded by the 20 or so incarnations that the Rangers have taken throughout the more than 820 episodes.
In this case, the nWay studio (creators of the notable beat ’em up Chronoblade) has opted for a fighting game with action along the same lines as in games like Marvel: Contest of Champions – that is, fights with 3D graphics but 2D development where you have to manage your special skills and control your characters with simple touch gestures.
The main appeal of the game is that you can unlock members of previous teams of Rangers, from the iconic stars of the original show from 1993 to the more recent Dinocharge or Ninja Steel. (If you want to be real sticklers, what you’re actually seeing are characters from the various seasons of Super Sentai Series, the original Japanese series from which the fighting scenes are taken.)
In the end, Power Rangers Legacy Wars is simply the umpteenth freemium game that offers rather worn-out gameplays in which you collect loot and upgrade your characters or unlock new ones. Maybe that’s the best thing about it, though, as it brings together all your favorite characters from a show with more than two decades to its name and the merit of bringing a whole new genre of masked superheroes to the West.
