POWER RANGERS: BATTLE FOR THE GRID is Now Worth Buying Almost a Year Later (with Some Caveats)
Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid came out roughly 10 months ago. At the time it was okay, but was very incomplete and I laid out some areas where I thought nWay could improve the game. Well, here we are and over the last 10 months, a lot of improvements have made their way to the game which just got it’s version 2.0 update the other day. nWay reached out to me and asked if I could take another look at the game and I decided I would because it has undergone a lot of changes. The short answer is that Battle for the Grid has become a very solid and great fighting game. The long answer follows.
One of the first things that nWay fixed was bringing voices to the characters. They brought in Jason David Frank, Austin St. John, and Dan Southworth to voice their Rangers which is really cool. Heck, they also got David J. Fielding to return as Zordon as well as voice the Cenozoic Blue Ranger and Kerrigan Mahan returned to voice Goldar. All other characters were voiced by other actors with it noteworthy that Kyle Higgins who wrote the story voiced the Mastodon Sentry. This really added some much-needed life to the game.
Another improvement to the game was the addition of the Story Mode which is a retelling of the Shattered Grid storyline from the BOOM! Studios comics. It’s a fantastic story. My big problem with the Story Mode has nothing to do with the story but how some levels are laid out. This game is a 3v3 fighting game, yet there are several parts of the story where you only control one character while your opponent has 2-3 characters and each of them has 2-4 lives. Yes, you typically get 2-4 lives as well, but they have a big advantage over you in these situations where they can swap out and heal. You may have one more life than them, but they can swap out for healing or call in assists and it’s really not cool in my book. I know that I’m not the best at fighting games, but I feel like the Story Mode should be doable for more casual players without it requiring more than 2-3 tries on any one level.
Third, nWay improved online play. They fulfilled their promise to implement crossplay and while it was only for PC, Xbox, and Switch players for a long time, the 2.0 update brought PS4 players into the mix as well. I’m a big proponent for crossplay, so this was huge for me. With this complete crossplay also came lobbies where up to eight friends can get together and hold their own tournaments and even spectate each other’s matches. This lobby system works great except that when I was in one my opponent disconnected and then it just took me to a loading screen for several minutes until I quit the game. In addition, if lobbies aren’t your thing, you can always simply challenge your one friend to a fight now with a Direct Match.
Fourth, they’ve added more characters. When the game launched we got 9 characters. Now, there are 12, plus six more available via DLC for a potential of 18 total. This provides a lot more variety in a 3v3 fighter. Plus, they were able to include more seasons of Power Rangers which helps it feel less like a Mighty Morphin game and more of a celebration of the franchise. It’s still not where many fans would like to see the roster, but it is a lot better than where we started.
Fifth, the community is blossoming. I can’t go a day without seeing fans put up videos of ridiculous combos they’re learning. Also, nWay recently announced official tournaments across the country. This kind of support is the exact kind of thing that these games need to truly survive. Plus, it helps that they appear to be reaching out to the press more (and no, I’m not just talking about me). I’m seeing more coverage in general on the game from other outlets as well as YouTube creators.
Battle for the Grid is flourishing after a very rough start. I do really enjoy the game and recommend it to anyone that’ll listen. The big catch with Battle for the Grid is that I would recommend picking up the first two season passes that will raise the price point from $20 to about $50. That’s still not bad considering most games cost $60 and it’s even better that I constantly see the game go on sale for as low as about $12 sometimes. This is the game that should’ve been released all those months ago and I’m glad that it was able to rise like a phoenix.
