Beyblade V-Force: Super Tournament Battle is a journey into the world of childhood competition.  You probably remember competing with your friends in various games like marbles or bottle cap slamming (POGs).  Every generation must have their own, whether it's brand-new or a game from the past has been revived for a new audience.

Beyblade V-Force is the game of this generation (in the virtual world at least).  It consists of something that you may not expect to see in a video game: spinning discs, a curved board, and special gun-shaped launchers that send the discs into battle.  If this game doesn't ring a bell, don't worry.  At first it didn't look like something I had seen before.  Soon enough I was reminded of the similar, albeit primitive, versions that were available in the late 80s and early 90s.  It was never my favorite kind of game, but was fun nonetheless.

Now we have a virtual version on the GameCube and a scaled-down version for the GBA.  The GameCube version plays how you'd expect: shoot the disc into battle and control it with the thumbstick.  Your goal is to "push" the other disc into one of the arena's gaps.  Upon completing that task you win the battle, but not the game.  That leads us to a very important note: there are a ton of battles in this game!  They all boarder on being identical to each other, but if you like this sort of thing, you'll be glad to have so much to do before it ends.

To spice things up a bit, Beyblade V-Force includes some video game elements like battle power-ups.  During battle you can unleash different super attacks that'll increase your chances of eliminating your opponent.  Sometimes the attack will be so powerful that it knocks your opponent out of the arena.  Other times it'll be powerful enough to weaken your adversary, causing the opposing disc (Beyblade) to either stop or break down.  On the most unfortunate occasions you'll be faced with the unlucky result of a super attack block.  Blocks prevent any damage from being received.

To launch these discs into battle, you start by watching a yellow meter increase towards the center of the screen.  Press the A button whenever you wish, preferably as close to the red part of the meter as possible, and the discs will be thrust into battle.  The yellow meter determines your Beyblade's power.  If you fail to press the A button before the meter is full, you're doomed.  The Beyblade fails to launch into a spin, automatically disqualifying it from that round.  It's a harsh world out there, yes, but without harsh rules there would be no glory.  And without this little bit of strategy added to the game, there wouldn't be much of a reason to strategize.

In a nutshell, Beyblade V-Force is a game about circular thumb movements.  You'll circle the thumbstick and attempt to knock the opposing Beyblade out of the arena.  It never gets any more involved than that.  For that reason it's almost wrong to call this a video game.  In actuality, it's a glorified, polygon-laden version of a game you can play in real life.

In the Mario Party sense, this game isn't too bad.  It's more basic than a kid gamer will ever desire, but then again, so are most party games.  Will kids like it if they don't even know what the heck a Beyblade is?  Probably not.  Part of the appeal of Mario Party is the fact that Mario, a well-known and very loved character, is the star.  Parents would be wise to NOT buy this for their children unless the child asks for it.  Rent it for 'em if you want, but most kids are fully capable of telling you what they're looking for.  If this is it, maybe a game console wasn't what they needed.

Gameplay: 5.9
Press the stick 'round and 'round...and 'round some more.  There really isn't much more to do here.  All things considered, this isn't a bad representation of the real-life counterparts.  But if you have the real thing, you don't need this.  And even if you don't have the real thing, this is far from a game that should be sought after.  It's mildly amusing, but will not be able to keep most kids (and especially not adults) busy for long periods of time.

Graphics: 4
I see dead graphics.  They don't know they're bland.   They consist of the simple, unimpressive effects that are necessary to make a game of this kind.

Sound: 4

Difficulty: Easy/Medium
If your hands could burn calories, you'd lose a lot of weight spinning your thumb with this one.

Concept: 3.5
There isn’t a whole lot to this game.  It’s just discs and spinning.  Gameplay translation: thumbstick swirling.

Multiplayer: 3.9
Entertaining for about 10-20 minutes.  After that you'll want to go back to playing another video game with your friends.

Overall: 5
Beyblade V-Force: Super Tournament Battle isn't very super.  It's not a horrible game.  It won't induce sleep.  The problem is that this isn't really a game!  Just because a person controls on-screen actions with a controller does not give a piece of interactive software the right to be called a game.

For that reason and that reason alone it is recommended that you do not buy Beyblade V-Force.