Custom Robo

"Nintendo delivers the goods yet again. Excellent GCN exclusive."

I am convinced that I am the definition of an impulse buyer when it comes to video games. I used to always rent games before I bought them, but ever since I received the lethal combination of a driver's license, my own car, and a weekly paycheck, few games are free from my impulse buying rage. Custom Robo is the latest victim of this onslaught, and it's a good thing it was, otherwise I never would have had the opportunity to enjoy this wonderful game.

I first heard of this game through the inclusion of Custom Robo trophies in Super Smash Brothers Melee, as many American gamers probably have. When I heard that it was getting an American release, it piqued my interest. I've always been a fan of customization in games, and robot building and battling games have enjoyed a warm place in my heart ever since I bought Robo Pit for PSX (Another awesome game, though not as awesome as this one...age may play a factor in that, though). However, I wasn't positive if I was going to actually buy the game. I'd heard mixed reviews about it. When I actually saw it in EB, though, I knew I had to buy it. I played EB's demo, and I didn't even get to the actual battling. All I had to do was look at the gun variety, and I was hooked. 40 bucks later, I'm home playing what is now one of my favorites out of my video game collection.

STORY: Custom Robo has two story modes: A New Journey and The Grand Battle. A New Journey sees your character waking up in his apartment, run by the friendly, but sometimes a bit nutty, landlady, Lucy. Your character's father's dying wish was for you to become a Commandeer of Custom Robos, tiny customizable robots that battle in arenas called Holosseums. In accordance to his wish, you go and apply for a job with Steel Hearts, a local bounty hunter group. In the beginning, you're simply accepting minor jobs, while trying to stay a step ahead of your rival bounty hunter group, led by Evil, a rather Kefka-esque presence. Eventually, though, the story builds into a save-the-world plot that I found to be quite interesting. I won't spoil any of it here, you'll have to wait and see. While there's no room for side quests in the story, it's presented well, with a nice bit of humor thrown in (Just seeing "Burninate" in the game gets it a bajillion extra bonus points, cause Trogdor > stuff). The NPCs in the game are well played, from Harry's stereotypical girl-crazy attitude to Marcia's confronting her personal demons, and the characters just make the story mode more enjoyable. The second story mode, The Grand Battle, however, is pretty tedious. While I couldn't wait to see what happened next in ANJ, playing through TGB to get more parts sometimes seems like a chore. Still, the interface with characters during TGB adds to the atmosphere.

GRAPHICS: This is one of the main things that turned me on to this game. The robos look OUTSTANDING. Every single part is beautifully detailed. The creators even cared enough to make animations for each part as it expands into its full size. I was floored while simply scrolling through all the guns that were in the EB demo. The Holosseums are well detailed as well, and the bullets, bombs, and pods are done well too.

SOUND: Some of the music is nice, but the sound is definitely not a feature that stands out in this game. Not much to say here. It could have been a lot worse, though.

CONTROLS: The controls are easy to pick up, but difficult to master. A is jump, B shoots your gun, R launches bombs, L launches pods, X uses your charge attack, and Y changes targets. Sounds easy enough, but it's easy to spam the B button and rely mainly on your gun, partially because the pods aren't always dependable and the bombs sometimes take a while to aim right. All in all, the controls aren't too bad.

GAMEPLAY: The main reason I've been playing this game about 2 hours a day since I got it. Some of the battles in the story modes are a bit easy, but man, this game is FUN. It's awesome trying to figure out the best combination of parts to combat each opponent. Plus, with the tremendous assortment of parts, there's nearly limitless combinations. Virtually any strategy you can think up is possible. Wanna gun your opponent down from afar and avoid close combat? Done. In the mood for a face-to-face brute power showdown? You got it. In the mood to install a virus into the other opponent's system and invade him with loads of spyware and popups? ...OK, well, maybe that's not possible. But anything within reason is at your fingertips with the mind-boggling assortment of parts. The only thing I can think of that's frustrating with the gameplay is battles with more than 2 bots. It can sometimes be difficult to go anywhere in an arena without being nailed by a bomb or a pod that came out of nowhere. This doesn't stop the fun factor, however. In fact, that unpredictability is a positive, in my opinion. To make a long story short, this game plays extremely well, and is incredibly enjoyable.

OVERALL: This game is an excellent addition to any Gamecube collection. For customization nuts like me, this is an absolute must-get. For those who just enjoy shooting other things that are shooting at them, this is a great choice.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/21/04