With a new chapter in the Power Rangers saga unfolding in theaters across the country this weekend, Saban and Lionsgate have teamed with mobile developer nWay to release Power Rangers: Legacy Wars, a real-time mobile fighting game featuring heroes and villains from throughout series history.
Legacy Wars is a little bit Marvel: Contest of Champions and mixed with some Rock, Paper, Scissors. Players form teams of Power Rangers characters (one leader and two assists) in order to do battle with other players’ teams in order to battle their way to the top of their league’s leaderboards. This is all due to some plot by Rita Repulsa to pit Rangers from throughout history against each other, cause she’s petty like that.
Check out the video below for a look at the game in action.
Battling is by far the best part of Legacy Wars, which is fortunate considering its focus on fighting. Finger swipes move players backwards and forwards on the fighting plane as a power meter fills. Each leader character has a series of attacks they can employ in battle, from special melee moves to ranged projectiles. Winning is a matter of guessing how your opponent is going to attack and countering in kind. Cancel their attack out with a faster strike, break their block with a massive attack, or call in assist characters to do their thing.
It’s a nice little fighting system, striking a balance between skill and strategy that works very well for Legacy Wars’ online multiplayer battles.
What’s not so great is the game’s reliance on the whole collectible character thing. It uses a shard-based system for recruiting and upgrading characters, which can be very frustrating. Some of us get the team we want immediately, while others will have to deal with second string Rangers until luck shows up to play.
Power Rangers: Lergacy Wars also features frustrating mechanics like have to wait out a timer in order to open reward boxes gained through battle, along with large ads featuring paid opportunities to ad special characters to your roster.
Despite these annoyances, I’m still having a pretty good time. The battles can get pretty intense, even if they play out more like a strategy game than a traditional fighter.
Your enjoyment may vary based on how easy it is for you to wait to add new members to your team without spending in-game currency.
It’s not going to be easy.
Power Rangers: Legacy Wars is now available on iOS and Android devices.