Game Info: Tenkai Knights: Brave Battle

Developed by: Delta-Arts Co. Ltd

Published by: Bandai Namco

Release Date: October 7, 2014

Available on: Nintendo 3DS

Genre: Beat em' Up

Number of Players: Up to 4 players online

ESRB Rating: E10+ for Fantasy Violence, Mild Language

Price: $29.99

(Amazon affiliate link) Thank you Bandai Namco for sending us this game to review! Tenkai Knights is a popular anime series about four school age boys who are given the power of Tenkai Energy to transform into Lego style robots to save the Earth from the evil Vilius and his army. To unlock their most powerful attacks, the boys must work together. This is easier said than done since they don't start off as friends. Tenkai Knights: Brave Battle follows the storyline of the movie Tenkai Knights - Rise of the Knights. The enemy is collecting dragon cubes to build a powerful dragon that will threaten the planet Earth. It's up to the Tenkai Knights to stop this from happening. To embark on this journey you can play as any of the four Knights in the mission mode.

Highlights: Strong Points: Has potential if you have friends that own the game

Weak Points: Repetitive gameplay; nobody responds to multiplayer help requests; no download play; stiff controls

Moral Warnings: Robotic violence You can play the missions in single-player or team up with up to four players wirelessly online. I never found anyone online to play against. Without the ability of download play, my kids were not able to assist me since we only own one game cartridge. The missions themselves are pretty repetitive with having to defeat a certain number of enemies in 2D brawler style game levels. As you complete the levels, the number of enemies required to defeat increases. Some missions will require you to defeat enemies and then partake in a mech style battle against a boss. It's these kind of levels that would have been nice having a partner in. While the mechs are powerful, they are more difficult to control and being ganged up on is not very fun. Unlike the mechs, the Tenkai robots are customizable and allow you to take parts from the other Knights to make your character as strong or agile as you like. As you defeat enemies, you can collect power-ups to craft stronger weapons and armor for your Tenkai Knight.