Review: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind is a letdown

It’s exhausting not to get excited once you boot up Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind and listen to the nostalgic guitar riffs of the theme tune. The sport begins with sending the gang again to the ’90s earlier than leaping straight into the motion: flipping and preventing their manner by means of waves of putty patrollers deployed by iconic villain Rita Repulsa. The rangers — or ranger, in the event you’re taking part in alone — struggle their manner by means of a sandy valley and throughout some rooftops earlier than getting on a speeder and blasting away unhealthy guys in a chase by means of the canyon within the first few ranges. It’s all main into the primary massive struggle, the place the rangers remodel their automobiles into the Megazord. What’s imagined to be a marquee battle is definitely only a watered-down, timing-heavy model of Punch-Out!! — an enormous letdown that continues all through the remainder of the sport.

It’s not that Rita’s Rewind is unhealthy, however the good components are restricted to the repetitive side-scrolling ranges that shine largely as a result of nostalgia for the style and franchise. The areas and artwork are beautiful re-creations of iconic areas from the collection, however there finally ends up not being sufficient selection in what you do in these areas: Enemies and movesets are each restricted, and, frustratingly, there’s little or no evolution of the speeder chase and Megazord fights. Whereas Digital Eclipse’s 2022 launch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge felt alive and buzzing, Rita’s Rewind feels sluggish and off — it doesn’t have the iteration or depth anticipated of a reimagining of the 1994 traditional. Shredder’s Revenge, too, was a contemporary model of the traditional TMNT brawler, with mechanically attention-grabbing fight and selection in enemies; Rita’s Rewind, by comparability, feels clunky. It’s that comparability that could be detrimental to Rita’s Rewind: I got here into the expertise anticipating an evolution of the classics, like with Shredder’s Revenge, however what Digital Eclipse created is extra akin to what it was like taking part in a 16-bit brawler again within the day. It doesn’t really feel like a recreation that was made in 2024.

For those who’re in search of a easy expertise that may be a true throwback, you’ll probably have extra enjoyable with Rita’s Rewind. In that case, you’re in for a nostalgia deal with: The colourful world is stuffed with references and grotesque enemies you’ll keep in mind, like Chunky Hen and Turkey Jerk. One of the best components of Rita’s Rewind are the aesthetic of the setting and its characters, and seeing the place the sport takes you subsequent. The massive “change” from different brawler video games is the Time Disruptor, which putties sometimes carry into the battleground. It’s set to a timer, and if it’s not destroyed earlier than it self-destructs, the timeline rewinds briefly — which means you’ll should struggle no matter unhealthy guys you’ve already defeated once more. It doesn’t add a lot issue or which means, nonetheless — it simply fills time.
And, maybe, the workforce at Digital Eclipse wanted that: Rita’s Rewind took simply over two hours to beat. It’s not a lot shorter than Shredder’s Revenge, however repetition made all the pieces blur collectively. Rita’s Rewind finally ends up relying far too closely on nostalgia, creating one thing that’s possibly too near the SNES recreation it’s drawing from as a substitute of pushing the style for extra depth.

Mighty Morphin Energy Rangers: Rita’s Rewind was launched on Dec. 10 on Nintendo Swap, PlayStation 4, Home windows PC, and Xbox One. The sport was reviewed on Home windows PC through Steam Deck utilizing a pre-release obtain code offered by Digital Eclipse. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These don’t affect editorial content material, although Vox Media might earn commissions for merchandise bought through affiliate hyperlinks. You will discover additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.