Xbox 360
A DS beat-em-up that combines martial arts with rhythm-action? Surely not!
Set in a world where everyone has spiky hair, fingerless gloves and gritted teeth, you'd be forgiven for thinking this was the game of a dumb anime show on Fox Kids.
Dig a little deeper and you'll unearth a fun and expansive (if not a little flawed) scrapper, that dares to try new things.
The story mode is almost a moot point. While you can traverse towns and talk to locals in RPG fashion, their dialogue rarely does anything and there are no side quests or bonuses. Along the way, you collect 'bullets' - the game's version of magic basically, ranging from standard fire and water spells to firing giant bear traps or icicles at your opponent. There are a whopping 99 of these to collect and because you can only use three at a time, finding the right combo is half the fun.
The rhythm-action hook is that each Glade (ranging from swords to giant hammers) can produce music to get the crowd pumping. Build up enough special points by hitting your enemy and a tap of the left shoulder button enters beat combomode. A rhythm bar pops up and you have to then tap the attack button in time to unleash maximum damage - brutal. You can make your own tunes if you wish. Battering ten shades out of some manga-throwback to the Mario theme tune is quite a chuckle.
Add in an excellent online battle mode and you have a great example of what beat-em ups could be, albeit with a shamefully pointless single-player game.
