What developers won't come up with these days eh, Atari made a game called Beyblade, those little spin-top toys you can get from your favourite cornflakes brand and some might also know them off the animated tv-series. The show is a huge hit in the land of the rising sun, but not so much anywhere else. Either Atari is very brave to launch the game outside of Japan or a little ignorant. Let's find out.

Graphics:

Visuals are pretty similar to the hit cartoon with its typical Japanese anime style, which falls in the same gender as Pokemon and Digimon. You can play with characters Kai, Tyson, Max and all the other beybladers, although it's their beyblades you will see the most of. And they look, well, you can hardly go wrong with a piece of round shaped plastic.

Sound:

If you, by any chance, see the show on a regular base, then the music and sound effects should be no stranger to you. The voice acting is limited to some catch phrases of the chars during the actual blade battles, and there is also match commentary, which consist of only a handful of sentences and becomes repetitive quickly. Still, the music and blade effects give things a nice atmosphere.

Gameplay:

Just as the real deal you'll have to combat against one or more enemies in a little cylinder arena. Launch your beyblade at the start with a button press when your HP meter is peaking and then eliminate your opponent by knocking him out of the ring or destroy his blade by using your bit beast. A bit beast is more or less a spell you can cast and has a pretty extensive and spectacular animation with it. It can be summoned at all times, but it's best to charge when the tri-coloured meter is full so you will make a more powerful attack.

You can buy parts such as weight disks, attack rings and other bit beasts in the shop to improve your beyblade with money earned during matches.

This is pretty much the whole concept of the game, win a tournament in single player or blade with your friends in a battle royal match or versus match, in which you can play up to 4 players.

Controls:

Controlling the Beyblade is super easy; there are only 2 buttons involved in the whole game, besides your control stick of course. And it shouldn't be hard to figure it all out.It's plain and simple, just as the gameplay is, but it gets the job done.

Lastability:

Beyblade fanatics, most likely the younger kids, could have fun with this game for a while. The longevity factor lies in the buy parts department, where you can improve your blade over and over till its almost invincible. He, who didn't get caught by the beyblade mania, will have enough after about 15 minutes, because there is just not enough depth in the game.