Power Rangers Mystic Force

The popularity of the Power Rangers is one of the most bizarre phenomena in televisual history. After all, adults might be able to admire the lycra-clad warriors through the 'so bad it's good' lens, but the Power Rangers were always primarily aimed at kids, whose sense of things such as irony, kitsch and camp is unlikely to exist, let alone be highly developed.

It's not even as if the spangle-suited kings of naff hemorrhage Ninja Turtles-esque personality. Behind those spray-painted motorcycle helmets it's hard just to tell who's talking, let alone gain an insight into their souls. Still, let's not be too down on the game before we've properly started – after all, there was no mention of the Power Rangers in Moses' Mount Sinai blog.

Mystic Force is a platformer that mixes in a dash of 'find the key' style puzzle elements with a large dollop of action.

In true Power Rangers fashion, you're faced with a horde of men in bizarre suits who would like nothing more than to dismantle you piece by shiny suited piece. These footsoldiers come in thick and fast, and although you'll find yourself mostly using your fists in combat, you also get to use a special power that each of the Rangers possesses, from fireballs to creeping vines that come up out of the earth and grab nearby enemies.

Yes – you get the chance to play as each of the five rangers. You start off as Mr. Red, but the others are unlocked as you progress. Around this process is wrapped a rather half-hearted and very odd story about the Rangers being turned bad by some generic evil force.

The plot results in cut-scenes with dialogue so creaky that even the TV series – itself not noted for its Wildean wit – would blush in embarrassment. Falling between So Bad It's Good and So Bad It's Bloody Awful, you'll still not have decided where you stand until long after the game is finished.

That feat itself should take a while, at least, since although not particularly challenging, Mystic Force boasts quite a few levels.

What's more, the standard action platformers are broken up every few levels by a one-on-one boss fight. In these, you play as one of the huge Mega Zord robots that are a staple of the TV series. Whilst these initially seem a nice idea, they end up being little more than button bashing at its most banal, and the difficulty curve is poorly skewed, too. The only boss fight that offers a real challenge appears fairly early on in the game; the last robot boss is a pushover.

And one of the game's other vaunted features – that of the multiple playable characters – is not very well used, either.

In each of the game's levels there are bonuses that increase the health or special power bars, which are only accessible by using a specific ranger's special ability. Sounds good so far, right?

In practice this feature is so prosaic and uninteresting that it adds nothing to the gameplay experience. Where the special power needs to be used is spoon-fed to you, so there's no sense of exploration. It's not like that game is hard enough for the power-ups to be must haves for the most part, anyway.

Underneath these gameplay disappointments lies the still-beating heart of a perfectly passable platform game. Visually the game is attractive enough, and the Power Rangers' lithe moves are represented well by controls that feel good on the keypad. If cheesy dialogue and mighty morphin' are your ideas of fun, you could do worse than picking up a copy of Mystic Force. But there are better games out there.