Review: Power Rangers Rita’s Rewind is a thoroughly entertaining, multi-genre retro-style romp
If there’s one thing you can’t accuse Digital Eclipse of, it’s resting on its morals.
Last month the Atari-owned studio released Tetris Forever, the third entry in its exceptional Gold Master Series collection of playable retro documentaries and arguably the best of the bunch so far.
Not content to close the year out with this 5-star collection of retro gems, the studio is rounding off 2024 with an old-school game of its own, one that lends a pseudo-16-bit style to the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers (specifically those first few seasons from 1993-95).
The game’s plot attempts to bridge the gap between that original series and last year’s Netflix reunion movie Power Rangers: Once & Always (though don’t worry if you haven’t seen it). That movie’s main villain, Robo Rita, travels 30 years back in time to find the original Rita Repulsa and the pair team up to bring down the Power Rangers.
In a bit of brain-bending time travel shenanigans, the Power Rangers in this game have literally just met Zordon and been given their powers, so they’re completely green – well, they’re red, blue, black, pink and yellow to be precise – and are therefore discovering the game’s variety of colourful enemies at the same time as the player.
It’s an interesting twist on nostalgia because the whole “remember this guy?” gimmick lands differently when the protagonist clearly doesn’t, because they’re only just meeting them for the first time.
Regardless, all of the above is mainly fan service, with entertainingly written cutscene dialogue between each stage. The meat of the game is clearly in its beat ‘em up sections, which are designed with the best of the genre in mind.
Combat is straightforward enough with a standard combo attack, a jump kick, a double-jump and a ground pound. The real game-changer, however, is an upwards thrust attack performed with Up + Attack, which fires your Ranger diagonally into the air.
Your combo ends with a move that pops the enemy into the air, so it’s possible to combo
Read more on videogameschronicle.com
