Robot Arena

"I'm confused... where is the Realistic Robotic Combat?"

Okay I will just start off by saying this, this game is severely disappointing, and fans of Robotic Combat shows like "Battle Bots", and "Robot Wars" and whatever else is out there DESERVE better [by the way, those two shows are dead now, but there are still some competitions out there, and the first one I mentioned is actually coming back in November]. Before I start the review I will say this, this game is nothing but a disappointment for all of the fans of Robotic Combat who bought this game.

Story: 1

Basically, there is no real story. In the simplest way of explaining it, you are in a tournament to fight against robots, and after that you're done.

Gameplay: 4

This is why the game failed, pure and simple. Now when I saw it I bought it because at that time I was watching "Battle Bots" a lot, and I installed it I thought everything was good. So I got into a battle, like the other review on here said I made a simple robot, it was a box with spikes, and I went into the practice level and I had my ass kicked. Then I put some batteries in, and I changed the weapon into a saw blade and I put better wheels on and I blew through the entire game in a few minutes, and after that the only thing to do is play the Exhibition Mode for more money. This game is incredibly easy because the AI is TERRIBLE. Most of the time the opposing Robots almost never move around, and you can drive behind them with ease and blow them apart. You are also incapable of shoving the other robot; if you run into the other robot you STOP. And personally I am a fan of the launch bots like Toro, and you can't make any of them, all you are capable of doing is slapping on some weapons and driving into the other robot until the other robot explodes. Another thing I despise is the complete lack of customization of the robots, you have attach points for everything on the shells you can chose from, and that is it. And you can only put weapons on those little spots. They could of at least given you a little bit more freedom with everything.

Challenge: 1

There is no challenge at all when I played. The AI will sit there like I said, and they will let you slice them up. You will only lose if you charge into their blades because the only time the AI moves most of the time is when they sometimes inch forward. Absolutely pathetic.

Controls: 7

You are able to customize the controls for your robot, and this as all well and good but there is still a problem. The complete lack of a physics engine means that if you are pined between another robot and the wall, or just stuck in anything... you cannot move!

Graphics: 7

This is the only good part. The Robots looked good for a 2001 game, and the Arenas looked like the ones you saw in most of the Robotic Combat shows. But the game feels like the Graphics are done in 2D because everything never leaves the ground, it feels a little bit weird for 2001.

I also found the impact marks to look nice, except for some of the weapons where it will make a mark past where the weapon ends [mainly on the Saw Blades]. And sometimes the game runs slow for me. I also have a little question about the explosions, after you defeat the enemy robot in battle it will explode, that seems a little bit weird because there is nothing capable of doing that much damage in this game. Other than that I got nothing to say about the Graphics.

Sound: 3

Lets see... There are some nice Rock Songs in the game, but it feels to me like a constant loop of a small track, I think that they could of at least put more effort into creating the music for the game. There are also sounds for the wheels, some of the electronics and the collisions, but they all sound exactly the same, there is no real variety in the noises at all. I got a little question now Infogrames, the company that made this game also worked on Unreal Tournament with Epic Games, and that game was filled with sound effects, and it is from 1998. This game was made in 2001 and there is inside of this game, it feels like the sound was put together in one day.

Atmosphere: 3

There is nothing to really immerse you, it would be nice to have some realistic Robotic Combat but that is nowhere to be seen. The speed is nowhere near realistic [if a glorified RC car could go over 100 miles per hour... and it felt like 15 mph in the game... totally fake], and there are no physics at all. What else do I really need to say here.

Replayability: 1

Well... you may want to play exhibition mode to earn more money after beating the tournaments, other than that there is no reason to continue playing after you beat the main mode.

Pros:
You can build Robots, The graphics are good enough.

Cons:
AI is terrible, unable to make a "unique" robot, almost no diversity in sound effects and music.

Should you get it:
If you are addicted to Robotic Combat give this game a gander, but I don't think you can find one anymore, at least it will be cheap.

Overall:

I am still confused by how Infogrames thought this was a good game, at least the Sequel improved over this mess. And like I said in the Sound portion, this game feels like it was made in one day, isn't it possible to do a little more work on a game because us Robotic Combat fans are starved for some destruction.

4

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 07/09/07, Updated 06/20/08

Game Release: Robot Arena (US, 04/01/01)