The game Rave Master is based off the TV series with the same name. It is about a young boy named Haru who is the Rave Master trying to find all of the Rave Stones which are elements of hope and salvation. He must fight against the Shadow Guard who uses the Shadow Stones which are malicious forces of dark power. The Rave Stones became scattered around the world when the previous Rave Master Shiba tried to destroy the Shadow Stones 50 years ago. There was a massive explosion which decimated over ten percent of the world, and that event is now known as Over Drive. It is up to you to find the Rave Stones and defeat all of your enemies. Are you up for the challenge?

When you first load the game you will notice that there are three modes of play: Story, VS, and Free Mode. Story mode is the real meat of this game, in the beginning anyways. You will select one of the five available characters. When you select one of them you will go though a unique story that is tailored just for that character. For instance, if you choose Haru you will play though the events of the anime. Yet if you select Elie you will go through a more “made up” scenario. It is all very interesting and mildly addicting to see the outcome of each of the characters.

Four player free for all!

In VS mode you will get the chance to play against up to three of your friends. If you do not have three friends available at the time you can choose to have the characters CPU controlled or non existent. The last of the modes is the Free mode, which is very similar to VS, except it is all of the characters, other than yours, has to be CPU controlled. This mode is more of a practice mode where you can prepare yourself to do battle against your friends.

If you have ever played the Power Stone series on the Sega Dreamcast, then you will know what to expect from this game. You will be thrust into a stage along with up to three other characters and you must try to become the only one standing during this battle royal. To help the players, throughout the course of the battle there will be different weapons available to be picked up, some Shadow and Rave Stones, which will boost the characters offense, defense, and special attacks. Players will be able to attack, jump, defense, and special moves. The special moves are dependant on what weapon you have at the time. Each character also has a super move that can only be activated if they are holding a specific weapon as well as certain stones.

Sword vs Guns...who will win?

The graphics for Rave Master get the job done pretty good. All of the characters that you will see throughout the course of the game look like their anime counterparts from the hair to the scars on certain people. While it is not the best looking game around it gets the job done pretty good. What I am impressed with is the steady framerate. During the course of any given game there is a lot of action going on, with up to four people fighting plus doing various special moves, one might think that the framerate might suffer, but this is not the case. This is very crucial for a game of this nature and it is greatly appreciated.

Everything from the sound is taken directly from the anime series that has been running on Cartoon Network for past few months now. I checked out a few episodes in the page and all of the voiceovers are the exact same for the characters and the music and sound effects are very reminiscent of the show. So fans of the show will feel right at home when they are playing this game as they hear all of the familiar voices.

Shocking isnt it?

One of the best bonuses in Rave Master happens after you beat the game in story mode with each of the characters. What opens up is a Scenario Editor, which allows you to create your own story mode using any of the characters that you wish. Even though it isn’t as deep as come people might like, you can create a campaign pretty quickly; it will give players some amazing control to create a very interesting story.

Rave Master is rated T for Teen for Comic Mischief, Suggestive Themes, and Violence. It will take 14 blocks on your memory card for game saves.

Gameplay: 8.3
The gameplay for Rave Master is fast, furious, and fun. The controls for this game are really easy to pick up on, and you will be playing like a champion in a few minutes.

Graphics: 8.1
The graphics for Rave Master get the job done and there are some nice effects done, especially when you pull off a special move. A big plus is that this game has a steady framerate throughout the entire match.

Sound: 7.5
All of the voiceovers from the Anime series showing on Cartoon Network are the exact same for this game. While that is good in theory, the voices on the show aren’t the best either. The sound effects and movies are also reminiscent of the show.

Difficulty: Easy
This game is extremely easy to beat. Even if you play this on hard mode on Free Mode or on Story Mode, you will have no problem trouncing over any enemies that you face.

Concept: 8.1
Rave Master plays a lot like Power Stone on the Dreamcast. I was a big fan of that game because of the chaos that ensued when you had a free for all with four people. This game carries that feeling with only this time you will be playing with characters out of the Anime series. What really gives this category big points is the ability to create your own story mode with various scenarios. While it isn't extremely robust, it still will provide many more hours of entertainment.

Multiplayer: 7.6
The multiplayer in this game is really good. I never experienced any slow down when I was in a four player free for all, even with all the various special powers going on during the course of a battle. I just wished that there was more variety of gameplay modes.

Overall 8.0
When I first received Rave Master to review I didn’t know what to expect, as I have never heard of the game until that time. So I put the game in the GameCube and I was surprised to find a decent 4 player brawler in the same vein as Power Stone. While this game is not perfect, it is a decent game that you will gain several hours of enjoyment out of, especially playing against your friends.