Common Sense Media Review
By Christopher Healy
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Glitchy hack-and-slash with lousy storytelling.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 10+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Play
Videos and Photos
Power Rangers Samurai
What's It About?
POWER RANGERS SAMURAI chronicles the efforts of five martial-artist teens with magical power swords to stop a race of ancient monsters from invading earth. Each time the evil Nighlocks send a squadron of bad guys into our dimension, the Rangers slice them down with their glowing blades and then turn into a giant robot to do the same to the Nighlocks' oversized leaders.
Is It Any Good?
The frustrating controls and overly-difficult boss battles aren't the worst part of Power Rangers Samurai. What's likely to annoy kids the most is the cheap-looking way it tells its story. All the action, including battle scenes, is depicted through dialogue. After working through an entire level of the game, finally beating a tough boss, and hearing the Power Rangers talk about how that boss just revived itself and turned into a giant monster, you expect to maybe see the heroes battle that big beast. But instead you just get more dialogue, like you're listening to an old radio play. It's hard not to feel cheated.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the violence in the game. Does the fantasy nature of the game make the fighting less problematic? Is it better that there's no blood? Or does that not make a difference?
Parents can also talk about marketing to kids and licensed video games. Does playing a game like this make you more likely to buy Power Rangers toys? Does it make you want to watch the TV show?
Game Details
- Platform : Nintendo Wii
- Pricing structure :
- Available online? : Not available online
- Publisher : Namco Bandai
- Release date : November 22, 2011
- Genre : Action/Adventure
- ESRB rating :
- Last updated : June 20, 2019
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