Parents' Guide to Fist of the North Star LEGENDS ReVIVE

Many free-to-play action games let players collect and level up characters, then use them in an endless cycle of fights to earn more items to collect and more characters to fight with. Fist of the North Star LEGENDS ReVIVE isn't much different, following the formula almost to a T. But to the game's credit, there are a few extra layers tossed in that help it stand out from the crowd just a bit, especially for fans of the Fist of the North Star series. These include full computer generated cutscenes that recreate key moments of the story, as well as manga-style story transitions pulled straight from the books. It's great stuff for fans, though these little extras are likely to be lost on newcomers to the franchise.

Strip out the fan service in Fist of the North Star LEGENDS ReVIVE and what you're left with is a relatively basic and repetitive tapping action game. Player fight in turn-based combat, choosing a target and a character to attack with. Players can time their attacks with an onscreen prompt to chain together attacks from different characters in huge damage dealing combos. At first, it's something to keep players' attention and focus on battles, but it quickly becomes repetitive and just one more step to go through in combat. Character do have access to special attacks with big animated flourishes, though for a big chunk of the early game, players' parties are usually strong enough to win fights before these attacks ever have a chance to charge up and come into play. While fans are likely to find fun in some of what Fist of the North Star LEGENDS ReVIVE has to offer, the game is still a formulaic and repetitive tap fest that lacks a punch.