That Bakugan is the latest hype of the moment is undeniable. The marketing train is flying by with supersonic speed with as target filling our fragile eye lenzes with all kinds of furry friends, plastic balls, lunchboxes, soaps for your intimiate spaces, comics and of course also videogames.

Bakugans are small, marble-shaped "mass destructuve" creatures that in combination with gate cards come to life to take on other Bakugan. Compare it with Pokemon, Digimon, Yu-Gi-Oh, ... the principle is the same. During a walk in the park a Bakugan (no apple) with the name Leonidas falls on your head. The Belgian chocolate company and you yourself head off to defeat other Bakugan Battle Brawlers and become the best Bakugan player in the world.

With all well-known characters, Bakugan and arenas that can be seen in the game this is a big anime-orgasm for the fans. Be honest, who doesn't want to be the best Bakugan player in the world?

In the game the idea is to win contests against other Brawlers and collect points. At the start of a game each player needs to put three "gate cards" on the field and then throw your Bakugan/marble on one of them. If your Bakugan and the one from your opponent hit the same card, a fight starts. Once you have three gate cards in possession you win the game.

The fight of the marbles depends on their G-Power, the power indication of a Bakugan. You can enhance these by using "ability cards" and playing minigames. The player with the highest G-Power in the end wins the fight after a pathetic and incredibly boring cut-scene.

There are three variations to the minigames, each equally uninspired and ridiculous as the others. The first one is a shooting game where you need to destroy icons that match the type of Bakugan you use. The second is a simple show of force where you have to move the analog sticks left and right like a madman, and finally there's a timing game like Guitar Hero and Rock Band where you need to push the right button and the right time.

The points you earn can be exchanged in the store to buy new Bakugan, upgrade your current one, or buy new ability cards. As you progress in the story your opponents get increasingly difficult and it's advisable to always bring along your best cards to the battlefield.

What bothered me most about the game was the lack of being able to walk around with your character. The only thing you can do is click on the different locations to do your thing there. Graphically there's nothing to be said at all as the locations have a static background and the fights between Bakugan are beneath what you're used to in the manga-version. Next to that the game doesn't have online possibilities and only supports offline multiplayer.