Power Rangers: The Movie was a big deal for me when it came out. At the time I was just finishing up Grade 6, and was obsessed with the show – especially the Green Ranger arc! To see the Rangers on the big screen was awesome, but I never got around to playing the Genesis Power Rangers game because I never had a Genesis growing up. As my first review back in years (finally finished all my schooling) I figured it would be nice play this game for the first time!
The story of this game is ripped right from the movie and tells the story of Ivan Ooze – a 6 thousand year old villain who gets released from Angel Grove. As always, the Rangers work together and eventually destroy him. To be honest, you are not playing this game for the story (and the story itself from the movie is extremely weak) but it does create a sufficient backdrop for the set pieces and levels of the game. In between stages, there are a few images that reveal the story – nothing fancy.
In terms of gameplay, this game is a beatem-up with six levels. Before each level, you get to select your Power Ranger, and then move from left to right punching and kicking enemies until you get to the end. The game utilizes a countdown timer to ensure that you feel the pressure to continue moving forward. There is an attack button, jump button, and special move button that draws energy from your life meter to use. While the game is fun, I found that the levels were quite repetitive with few variations in enemies.
Apart from fighting as the Rangers themselves, every few levels you also get to take control of the Zords (and even get to select which one to use) which was really great! Unfortunately I did not feel much more powerful in the Zords because the gameplay was essentially the same and the Zords where quite small on the screen compared to the original SNES version. It would have been great to have massive Zords on the screen! Another great addition that was essentially missing from the original Power Rangers game on the SNES was multiplayer. Similar to most beatem-ups, they are always more fun to play with another person, so this addition was much appreciated.
In terms of graphics, they were overall average. I found the sprites a bit too small for my liking but did not experience much slowdown or performance issues at all while playing. Many of the backgrounds used a lot of grays, which made the game look a bit muddy and dull. In terms of music, I found the stage music was decent and fairly upbeat which helped make the game more fun. The sound-effects were also good and helped to convey the smashing of enemies!
In summary, Might Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie for Sega Genesis is an average beatem-up that is much better to play with friends. The gameplay is a bit too repetitive and while switching from Rangers to Zords is fun, it does not bring about enough gameplay changes to feel different or more powerful. Overall, I give this game a final score of 6/10.
Final Score: 6/10
Go on.... treat yourself to a new game.
