Bakugan: Champions of Vestroia, the tried
A setting… questionable
Let's start with the setting of Bakugan: Champions of Vestroia, which certainly does not shine for its originality and care: we are in a small town , presumably in the spring. Cheerful kids are playing a football match, and among them is the protagonist: just a few minutes before we were able to customize him at least in the color of the eyes and the haircut. The football match ends and the player begins to take a look at the surrounding area, to explore it.You immediately understand how Bakugan: Campioni di Vestroia was treated as a production oriented to savings, we had it also noticed in the preview. The number of polygonal models used to make every single object - from the soccer ball to the stadium bleachers, from the bushes to the cars of the nearest parking lot - is laughable, however insufficient to guarantee a minimum positive feeling. The objects on the screen are few, and very distant from each other, leaving huge empty spaces on both sides.
The protagonist walks among these spaces (with his pace, it doesn't even seem possible to run) and interacts with the others present. Everyone remains motionless like mannequins, no one seems animated with a life of their own: sometimes they turn towards the hero, but then return to their position. It seems that the development team has been inspired by recent titles such as Yo-Kai Watch 4 (which has not yet arrived in Italy) and Pokémon Sword and Shield, both for Nintendo Switch ... but cutting, cutting, cutting.
The game world is also divided into other areas, some of which are green: the situation does not improve in the slightest. It is even possible to get lost, wandering around for a while without the slightest idea of what you were doing until a few seconds ago.
Gameplay
The first hours of gameplay of Bakugan: Champions of Vestroia have finally made it possible to understand how the gameplay of the title is (and will be) managed. The player accumulates Bakugans within his collection, and can carry up to three with him at the same time. The Bakugan obviously want to fight, and must be made to fight in special improvised arenas, against the NPCs scattered around the "world" of the game.The ideas behind these mechanics are not bad, although obviously they are a copy of what has been seen in similar productions. Each Bakugan therefore has its element, faithful to the anime: Pyrus, Haos, Aquos, Darkus, Subterra and Ventus, with an attached system of weaknesses and resistances. Each Bakugan learns moves to use in combat, which can be activated taking into account the cooldown times and energy collected on the battlefield by the owner of the monsters. So far, nothing to object.
The fact is that, as long as it comes to collecting Bakugans and summoning them in battle, Bakugan: Champions of Vestroia can also be satisfying: certainly the choice of the first monster to be part of the player, and the first evocation with an attached sense of "discovery". But already after the first two or three battles, well ... you can see how the production immediately became repetitive. Also because the management of the clashes does not shine at all: the player's alter ego is the only one who can move on the field, while the Bakugan fights alone. The main character's aim is to collect energy to throw at the monster, and then select one of the available attacks. Repeat one attack, repeat another, in the end the enemy is defeated without much effort.
An original story (hopefully)
On the depth of the Bakugan fighting: Champions of Vestroia and on the vastness of its game areas we will return in the review. We now underline at least one aspect of the production that may deserve some appreciation: the original story.Bakugan: Champions of Vestroia does not follow the events of the anime: the developers have been able to think about their own unpublished adventure, and this has granted their considerable creative freedom. We only followed the main events for the first few hours and they turned out to be sufficient, albeit not brilliant. This means that at least with smaller players, the title will do its job without much effort. The problem will presumably arise for all those over the age of eleven or twelve.
Bakugan: Campioni di Vestroia is unlikely to turn out to be, in review, a brilliant or even average production. It seems to us, for now, that the title rather aspires to sufficiency: not because it does not have good ideas on its side. The plot, for example, is original; summoning Bakugans into battle is fun, and collecting them will surely guarantee hours and hours of gameplay. The mechanics are the sore point: the fights seem too wooden and static, the presence of the hero on the battlefield completely inappropriate. And even the game world is far from detailed or fascinating: but we will return to these aspects later. For the moment many question marks remain open: perhaps too many.
