Zoids Wild’s 2018 reboot was a welcome continuation of the often-forgotten anime gem. Whether its viewers are hardcore anime fans or kids who just love robotic dinosaurs, Zoids is a great combination of everything an action-packed show needs to be. Zoids Wild: Blast Unleashed continues this while finally giving players the opportunity to control their favorite characters and do battle in the Zoids Wild universe.
Zoids Wild: Blast Unleashed is an engaging title that will hold the attention of fans. It does what it does well, but unfortunately is lacking in the content department. Battling it out on the backs of insanely powerful robotic creatures is what many wanted to do after playing Horizon: Zero Dawn, and Zoids Wild: Blast Unleashed provides said battle fix, but very little else.
In terms of gameplay, Zoids Wild: Blast Unleashed is faithful to the show. Each Zoid is accurately recreated with a level of clarity and detail, and they behave and handle differently, never feeling like they're reproducing copied and pasted animations or attacks. Players are prompted to strategize carefully and use each Zoid’s strengths to their advantage, as they aren’t all the fastest or the strongest, but each one can be used to do massive amounts of damage with some practice. The only point that could have been expanded upon is the variety of attacks given to each Zoid. The game is made to be rather simplistic, as there are only a handful of attacks that are possible for a single Zoid.
Since the animations of the Zoids themselves are so well done, it is a shame that battles are confined to such simple arenas. Players aren’t locked into one place while fighting as they are in games like Mortal Kombat. Zoids Wild: Blast Unleashed plays more like Dragon Ball Xenoverse in that it allows a full range of motion throughout the field. While this range is welcome, players are stuck in rather small areas instead of varied and expansive environments. There is also a feeling that the game is lacking in things to do with these well-designed monsters.
While the basic fighting is definitely entertaining, there are just a few small annoyances that don’t ruin the experience but could have been improved. The timing of attacks is hard to nail down for all but the smallest of Zoids. There is a noticeable delay between when a button is pressed and when the Zoid finally makes a move. This isn’t always a bad thing in games, as long as the opponent’s actions are properly telegraphed. In Zoids Wild: Blast Unleashed, by the time the player can see their opponent making a move, it is already too late to block or dodge. As a result, players are forced to preemptively press buttons to try to avoid damage, which leads to bouts of button mashing to try to spike a lucky prediction.
The Zoids Wild: Blast Unleashed campaign involves selecting a mission from a menu, cycling through a series of still shots of the characters overlaid with text dialogue, and then being dropped into a battle with one other Zoid. This mode is lacking in any real plot or reason for each battle that takes place. Zoids Wild: Blast Unleashed could have done with some cutscenes instead of static panels of text, since its character models are so well-animated during gameplay segments. Additionally, following the lead of something like Xenoverse would have helped, as Zoids Wild: Blast Unleashed contains no other types of battle scenarios other than the basic fights found in its arcade mode.
All in all, Zoids Wild: Blast Unleashed is a great time as long as the player is only interested in controlling their favorite monsters from the show in simple battles. For kids, this game is likely to be a favorite that brings hours of entertainment, but players looking for more depth won’t find much here. Zoids Wild: Blast Unleashed is worth checking out for those seeking the thrill of battling in a robotic dinosaur but likely won’t keep players entertained for long despite that promising premise.
Zoids Wild: Blast Unleashed is available on Nintendo Switch. Screen Rant was provided with a Nintendo Switch code for the purposes of this review.