Game Review: Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue (PS1)

Power Rangers… most people will have grown up with some form of the phenomenon. For some it harks back to 1993 when the show first debuted, for many others it’s the later variations that came such as the focus of this review, Lightspeed Rescue. Based on Season 8 of the TV show also called Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue.

A 3D action game, players can choose one of the five main Rangers to play through the game. Taking place across multiple levels based on the show’s location of Mariner Bay as well as the Ranger’s base of operations and the villain’s lair.

Queen Bansheera and her minions are waging war on humanity and it’s up to the Power Rangers to stop her. Play through the levels rescuing innocent bystanders, collecting necessary items and defeating all the enemies and bosses. The latter appear sporadically throughout the levels but it always culminates in a Megazord Battle. All to eventually face off with the ultimate evil.

It’s very simple stuff and thanks to the game refusing to let you progress past a certain point without having completed everything in the previous area, easy to navigate. Although, it’s hard to really get lost or anything as levels are very linear.

At best you might struggle to find a specific thing purely because of the camera that just always seems to be one step behind the Ranger’s movements.

Talking of which…the controls are pretty horrendous here.

Your Ranger can punch, kick, block, jump and do some form of special attack when the power bar has increased. There is no real skill involved, it’s just a matter of mashing the buttons until the enemy’s health is depleted. Even blocking only really has any use with certain bosses, often the games only real challenge. The lack of moves is really disappointing and makes fights really repetitive, made all the worse as the game has just one non-boss enemy type.

Dying doesn’t come easy but chances are you’ll die the most by the dodgy hit detection and having to jump. The latter is a real problem for a game that also has camera issues. Later levels, specifically the final level is downright torturous for its frustrating jumps.

That is if you ever make it that far.

Now normally we wouldn’t point out a specific incident or glitch in a game that has so many. However, there is one in Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue that everyone will experience and see many just give up playing altogether.

This glitch will impede your progress unless you know how to get past it and it involves jumping.

So, in level 4 – Go Volcanic – there is a point where you need to climb up to some roofs. This involves climbing a broken pylon, jumping up to a small vent then, in theory, on to the roof. The issue is that once on the vent, you can’t jump any higher. It’s as though there is a roof above the Ranger. No matter how much you try and how many different angles you come from, it’s just not possible.

With nowhere else to go and no way to progress, the game’s lack of sparkling quality so far will hardly extend to the effort required to work out just how the game wants you to make this jump.

To do it, you need to go back to the pylon and jump across from there. A jump that should be impossible but if you hammer the jump button, the Ranger will make the jump through a combination of floating and landing on some invisible block. It’s enough to make you never want to hear the Lightspeed Rescue theme ever again.

Get used to hearing it though as the clips from the show are played throughout and always with that theme playing.

With ugly graphics (although decent for PS1), horrible music and sound effects, terrible controls and a real lack of challenge, this is one to avoid. Even if you are the biggest of Power Ranger fans.