This review contains spoilers
So, I've owned Battletoads (2020) since the day it released. I was super excited about it...before that reveal at E3 2020 of what the game actually looks like. A combination of that and the mostly negative feedback this game has received made me uncertain of if I ever wanted to actually play it. Now, almost two years after its release, I took the time to sit down and go through the whole game. I was able to beat it in one sitting since it is pretty short, the game says my time was 4 hours and 37 minutes. Honestly, I found the game more enjoyable than I thought I would.
I think the part where Battletoads (2020) loses most people is the way the gameplay is structured. Don't get me wrong, I think the controls are excellent and the game was overall fun to me all the way through. The issue lies with the fact that Battletoads (2020) has a couple different styles of gameplay that it cycles between for stages: beat-em-ups, glorified quick time events, 2D platforming with puzzles mixed in, and arcade style ship shooters. The beat-em-up levels are probably the most enjoyable to me, but I did enjoy the other ones (and the ones I didn't enjoy were usually short enough for it to not sour the experience anyway). Nonetheless, when people think Battletoads, they tend to think only of beat-em-up stuff, so, if you're going into this game just for that, you're going to feel duped. I actually felt that some of the different styles felt fitting for this series, though. I think people tend to forget that the Battletoads games of old tend to have some weird gimmicky levels too. My only real problem with it is that I think they went too wild with it in this game. I think the spaceship shooter stages, some of the quick time event stages, and the 2D platforming stages felt unnecessary (though there was one platforming stage I really enjoyed).
The story of this game isn't really anything special, but that works well for it. The story really felt like something out of a Saturday morning cartoon to me, it rarely takes its story seriously and of course the style of the game gives off that vibe. The humor is very hit or miss, I didn't find any of it worthy of laughter but I think it was relatively charming in its own way (some of it is cringy and feels too focused on modern age kids though). I'll just give a relatively brief synopsis of the story: basically, the Battletoads find out that the events of their previous games were a result of a simulation they had been stuck in for around 25 years or so. They find their way out and have to live in the real world for a bit, settling down and getting jobs (of course they made a quick time event stage out of this). It doesn't take long for them to get back into adventure, since Rash devises a plan to find the Dark Queen. The Battletoads steal turbo bikes from some nearby store and use them to go...somewhere. I might've just not been paying attention, but I don't think the story specifies where they even went and there's even a joke about that. The Battletoads find the Dark Queen and she offers to team up with the Battletoads since they need to work together to defeat powerful villains called the Topians. The Battletoads and the Dark Queen steal a spaceship from a boss they beat and use it to explore the galaxy and get closer to the Topians. Of course, in the end, the Battletoads beat up the Topians with the help of the Dark Queen. There's a lot more that happens, but I make long enough reviews as it is. I see no need to make them longer by dropping a whole plot synopsis.
I want to give a quick shoutout to the music of this game. As much as the visual style and story really does not feel like a Battletoads game to me, the music is spot on and great even out of context. I was listening to it for a good while and it was part of what inspired me to finally give this game a chance. It even has some remixes of old Battletoads tunes in there.
I genuinely think this game would have been received much better if it wasn't a Battletoads game. I'm not a huge Battletoads guy myself, but this 2020 reboot really just does not feel like Battletoads, especially in the story and art style. Its a shame since I think both of those qualities of this game are great; I love how the art style pops with vibrant colors and the exaggerated character designs. The shapeshifting powers of the toads were put to pretty good use, but many aspects of the Battletoads series were just not well-utilized or even mentioned. Why is there no Professor T. Bird when he's been in almost every Battletoads game? Also, every character that is not a 'toad or the Dark Queen is a weird looking alien and that approach just does not feel fitting for Battletoads in my opinion. I really think they should have kept most aspects of this game the same, but replace the Battletoads and Dark Queen with some original characters. I don't know how much say Rare had on this game, though I'm assuming the main decision maker here was Dlala Studios since it seems like Rare is pretty laidback with their IPs nowadays. If I'm right about that, Dlala Studios could have made this an original IP instead.
Okay, I think I've prattled on long enough. This game gets a decent three stars for me. Its pretty fun and has many aspects that I like, but it isn't really anything special and I feel being a Battletoads game only hurts it. Of course, I also did have some gripes with it, but the game was mostly a positive experience for me. Glad I gave it a chance.
I think the part where Battletoads (2020) loses most people is the way the gameplay is structured. Don't get me wrong, I think the controls are excellent and the game was overall fun to me all the way through. The issue lies with the fact that Battletoads (2020) has a couple different styles of gameplay that it cycles between for stages: beat-em-ups, glorified quick time events, 2D platforming with puzzles mixed in, and arcade style ship shooters. The beat-em-up levels are probably the most enjoyable to me, but I did enjoy the other ones (and the ones I didn't enjoy were usually short enough for it to not sour the experience anyway). Nonetheless, when people think Battletoads, they tend to think only of beat-em-up stuff, so, if you're going into this game just for that, you're going to feel duped. I actually felt that some of the different styles felt fitting for this series, though. I think people tend to forget that the Battletoads games of old tend to have some weird gimmicky levels too. My only real problem with it is that I think they went too wild with it in this game. I think the spaceship shooter stages, some of the quick time event stages, and the 2D platforming stages felt unnecessary (though there was one platforming stage I really enjoyed).
The story of this game isn't really anything special, but that works well for it. The story really felt like something out of a Saturday morning cartoon to me, it rarely takes its story seriously and of course the style of the game gives off that vibe. The humor is very hit or miss, I didn't find any of it worthy of laughter but I think it was relatively charming in its own way (some of it is cringy and feels too focused on modern age kids though). I'll just give a relatively brief synopsis of the story: basically, the Battletoads find out that the events of their previous games were a result of a simulation they had been stuck in for around 25 years or so. They find their way out and have to live in the real world for a bit, settling down and getting jobs (of course they made a quick time event stage out of this). It doesn't take long for them to get back into adventure, since Rash devises a plan to find the Dark Queen. The Battletoads steal turbo bikes from some nearby store and use them to go...somewhere. I might've just not been paying attention, but I don't think the story specifies where they even went and there's even a joke about that. The Battletoads find the Dark Queen and she offers to team up with the Battletoads since they need to work together to defeat powerful villains called the Topians. The Battletoads and the Dark Queen steal a spaceship from a boss they beat and use it to explore the galaxy and get closer to the Topians. Of course, in the end, the Battletoads beat up the Topians with the help of the Dark Queen. There's a lot more that happens, but I make long enough reviews as it is. I see no need to make them longer by dropping a whole plot synopsis.
I want to give a quick shoutout to the music of this game. As much as the visual style and story really does not feel like a Battletoads game to me, the music is spot on and great even out of context. I was listening to it for a good while and it was part of what inspired me to finally give this game a chance. It even has some remixes of old Battletoads tunes in there.
I genuinely think this game would have been received much better if it wasn't a Battletoads game. I'm not a huge Battletoads guy myself, but this 2020 reboot really just does not feel like Battletoads, especially in the story and art style. Its a shame since I think both of those qualities of this game are great; I love how the art style pops with vibrant colors and the exaggerated character designs. The shapeshifting powers of the toads were put to pretty good use, but many aspects of the Battletoads series were just not well-utilized or even mentioned. Why is there no Professor T. Bird when he's been in almost every Battletoads game? Also, every character that is not a 'toad or the Dark Queen is a weird looking alien and that approach just does not feel fitting for Battletoads in my opinion. I really think they should have kept most aspects of this game the same, but replace the Battletoads and Dark Queen with some original characters. I don't know how much say Rare had on this game, though I'm assuming the main decision maker here was Dlala Studios since it seems like Rare is pretty laidback with their IPs nowadays. If I'm right about that, Dlala Studios could have made this an original IP instead.
Okay, I think I've prattled on long enough. This game gets a decent three stars for me. Its pretty fun and has many aspects that I like, but it isn't really anything special and I feel being a Battletoads game only hurts it. Of course, I also did have some gripes with it, but the game was mostly a positive experience for me. Glad I gave it a chance.