I’m going to be totally honest here, I always thought the Power Rangers were a little too high on the cheese factor with the over-the-top yet totally old-school special effects (although the show does grow on you after a while). Jacob, on the other hand, thinks they’re some of the coolest super-heroes, and since he’s in the show’s target demographic, his opinion matters a whole lot more than mine should. I do like the characters and the overall message of the shows- Power Rangers are all about team work, and just about every episode of Power Rangers Samurai showcases that lesson.
The Power Rangers Samurai video games for Wii and Nintendo DS also demonstrate how important it is to work as a team. We received both for review, and Jacob has been playing the Wii version every day. Perfect timing too, since he has been on fall break all week. The game is rated age 10+, but Jacob had no difficulty figuring it out and he’s only six. He did get a little frustrated from time to time, yelling “I can’t possibly beat this guy, he’s too hard!” But five minutes later, he’d proudly proclaim that he kicked the bad guy’s butt “finally” (yes, we’re working on his patience issues, but he takes after me, so he has his work cut out for him). He beat every round as the Red Ranger, now he’s going back through to get other stuff and play as different rangers. Once I find my missing extra nun-chuck, I’ll be able to play with him. I haven’t mastered the art of taking screen shots yet, and I have an ancient TV (by today’s standards, anyway. It’s actually only like 6 years old, if that), but here is a picture of Jake playing the game:
Game Features
- Learn the Samurai Power Symbols and gain control over the five elements- Earth, Sky, Water, Fire, and Forest.
- Use your Samuraizer (DS Stylus or Wii Remote) to master the symbols and morph into Red, Blue, Green, Yellow or Pink Ranger, then use your special powers to battle the masses of Knighlok monsters.
- Martial arts training and fitness will only get you so far. To defeat the monsters once and for all, you’re going to need teamwork.
- Samurai Power Up! – Unlock secret passageways, access hidden levers, and mystical pathways to get hints on how to defeat the Nighloks and collect Zords to gain Samurai Megazord combinations and finishing moves.
- Combine your animal Zords to form the giant Samurai Megazord and fight MegaMonsters
The DS version is pretty much the same, but Jake plans to beat it on that as well because he enjoys playing it so much. He’s much better at the game than I am, I got my butt kicked pretty quickly by the easiest bad guy. The nice thing about the game is that if you die during a boss battle, you start back right before the battle rather than at the beginning of the level.
I asked Jake what his favorite part of the game was, and he said “fighting evil.” He’s a boy of very few words, which is why I write the reviews. Of course, he’s way more photogenic than I am, which is why he appears in all of them! I would definitely recommend this for any fan of the Power Rangers Samurai show.
