Hands on with Bakugan: Battle Brawlers DS

Anyone fancy a typically mad Japan combination of pinball, bowls, a card-based battler, and a Pokemon-style strategy game, complete with tie-in kids anime TV series? Of course you do.

After all this is Bakugan, which, depending on who you talk to, is the hottest boardgame/TV series/toy and soon-to-be computer game and movie for lads of a certain age.

This being the case, it is almost impossible for anyone not aged 6-to-12-years old to understand.

Basically - and this will be basic - you have the Bakugan spheres, which in the battle arena transform into the Battle Brawling creatures of the title. Obviously, there are lots of these, split into four elemental species. Each character has attributes spread across six stats: pyrus, subterra, haos, darkus, aquos, vestus. The complex interactions between these provide one of the game’s main strategic elements.

Before you get to the battles, however, you have the pinball bit of the game. This sees you fire your sphere into a battle arena where you can influence its movement with your stylus, bouncing it off pingers and collecting power-ups.

Your goal is to buff up your sphere (and the Bakugan inside) as much as possible - although beware: it can fall off the platform if you’re not careful.

Battles occurs when two spheres land on the same card on the arena floor. You choose your cards and throw them into the arena before firing off your sphere. The winner of the battle picks up the card, as well as points and in-game currency.

The spheres themselves also have different attributes in terms of speed, defence, controllability, ease of after-touch, and their level of magnetism. You’ll be buying new balls as you progress through the game’s Story mode, which follows the exploits of Dan and his friends as they battle their Bakugan Brawlers to save the planet of Vestroia, and ultimately Earth, from destruction.

At any point during this, however, you can jump into the Battle Arena mode to test your current load out. In addition, there’s a tutorial and a My Room option, where you can view your card deck and Bakugan collection.

A fairly convoluted game for most of us, then, but one of the most exciting things on earth for the little folk.