It’s unfortunate for Rygar that we’re reviewing it the same month as Klonoa, as Namco reboot is a damn sight better than this effort from Tecmo.

It’s a shame, because we really enjoyed Rygar when it was released seven years ago. Sadly, time has not been too kind to Tecmo’s arcade adventure and efforts like the spectacular God of War and Tecmo’s very own Ninja Gaiden make this new remake look mighty tired.

Unlike Namco’s wonderful reboot of Klonoa, Tecmo has done very little with its own update. The visuals look rough around the edges; the controls are awkwardly placed and take a fair while to get used to, while the new monsters that have been added offer little excitement over the original menagerie. The most disappointing aspect of Rygar though is how rarely the motion control have been used. Granted you eventually pick up weapons that allow for a fair bit of waggling, but this should have been implemented from the very beginning.

Ultimately though, the real problem for Rygar is that so many better games from the same genre have been released in the time since the original game was released and as a result the gameplay just feels incredibly tired. Most levels are extremely linear in their structure and simply require you to constantly travel back and forth in order to open sealed off areas, while the simplistic and lethargic combat controls lack the grace and style of Ninja Gaiden and God of War.

Boss battles are also an issue with many of them doing absolutely nothing until you’re whittled them down to half their health bars, meaning that the majority of fights are more boring than exciting. Then there’s the fact that it’s all too easy to fall off platforms when making jumps or fighting enemies, which causes no end of frustration; especially when you fall down for the umpteenth time due to no fault of your own. It’s incredibly frustrating and simply highlights the many poor gameplay designs that Tecmo couldn’t be bothered to rectify for its update.

It’s a crying shame, because The Battle of Argus does manage to impress in certain areas and the genre itself is woefully represented on the Wii. This is nothing more than a developer being lazy though, so our advice to leave it on the shelf unless you’re a truly die-hard fan.