A Review of Some Digimon Game (That I Rediscovered)

One of Those Minor Digimon Games, The Kind You Find In An Old Bag
Digimon Battle Spirit 2 is the kind of game no one asked for -- but that might be because no one would have thought to ask for it. Based on the universally reviled season 4 of Digimon, which involved Digimon fusing with humans, this game offers no significant canon of much on the way of story. That said, it's exactly what it promises: a simple fighting game based on a limited selection of combos and lots of button-mashing.

You fight your way through six enemies by collecting blue orbs that appear when you hit your opponent -- however, your foe has the same objective, instead seeking red orbs. The person with the greater number of orbs is declared the winner.

The game's simplicity lends itself to tightness, its very saving grace because it lacks depth. From my brief experience playing Digimon Battle Spirit 2, it is very much a pick-up-and-go type of game. I played it for some time when I was younger and then yesterday for an hour or so on the plane, so I can attest to its swift nature. The game is so simple that I went without even listening to its music -- and there is no true plot, so you never have to wonder about character motivations or things like that.

One curveball: the final boss is fought unlike any of the other enemies -- here you must fight it with a health bar, consisting of several orb things on the screen, and must win by hitting the weak points at the right times. However, this twist does little to shake up the playing or add nuance. Rather, I found the boss so frustrating I gave up, as there was little reward in continuing.

At the very least, artwork is decent, giving you a sense of place -- though unfortunately, any references to the show are lost on me. Stages progressively add on traps, such as enemies, to trip you up and nuance the gameplay -- this can operate by giving your enemy orbs, or by just making the fighting harder. Beautiful simplicity defines this game -- it is an early '00s portable game, after all -- which can seem like a euphemism for its lack of real content, and its shallow gameplay. Digimon Battle Spirit 2 is the sort of game worth a couple bucks, and not much more, as it is fun but incredibly short and never chances above mediocrity. Simplicity is its strength, after all.

Scoring
Artwork: 6/10
Music: ??/10 (played without sound)
Gameplay: 5/10
Writing: ??/10 (implying there was writing)
Replayability: 8/10
Relevance to Digimon: 2/10

Overall Score: 4.5/10