Custom Robo

"Customize a Virtualoid and you get Custom Robo"

The first time I saw a Custom Robo, was like many, at the Smash Brothers melee trophy screen. Then I got some interest and was happy to know that the latest post was coming to America. With game now in my hands and beaten like 4 times already (the full thing I mean) and after reading a bunch of good and bad reviews, this is my opinion of the game.

First. Some people call story mode the RPG part of the game. Some just call it story mode. I myself can only call it a glorified tutorial mode. The story mode has two parts. A new Journey and the Grand Battle. The first part is where the huge tutorial is and the Grand Battle is the place to put everything you learned to practice. The main aspect of this game is obviously the multiplayer feature against other human players who hopefully played the big tutorial too. Story mode is completely linear and the only thing you can modify is your own robo. Everything else happens when the game says it has to happen. No side quests at all. The only thing worse than story mode in this game is the fact that you must play it to unlock absolutely everything in the game. Including your very first robo and even Arcade mode.

About graphics and sound. Both of these could be pulled easily by our old Dreamcast on it's first days. Not that graphics are that bad. They are bordering on the cute and candy side. You will even find late in the game, one of the bad guys' robos wearing pink leg parts! The sound is substandard but does the job. You get the usual nice blast and explosion sounds found in modern robot games. I myself didn't like the songs at all. None of them inspired me to battle so it's best to simply set it down to 0 in the options and use your stereo and your favorite CD for that background music.

Gameplay. At first, it does look like another button masher with easy to use controls. The one who presses the button faster will win. Also, standing behind a wall and using a weapon like say, sword storm, will give your friends their first victories. All that until one of the four players actually sees how that bomb blows and how it can be chained with the gun shot and later with the pod blast. Then, combos are born and strategy rises. Then it rises more when he also discovers that every weapon has a flaw and can be dodged by simply walking left, right or jumping. Then the strategy element rises to max when this same guy also notices that there are weapons capable of taking down that guy behind a wall with his happy sword storm and that firing that gun leaves him vulnerable long enough to be blasted away with a shotgun. Suddenly, there's absolutely no safe place in the holloseum and standing still is like wearing a "kill me" sign hung in the neck with a thorn collar. Battles against experienced gamers turn out like beautiful art shows with their robos flying everywhere and the screen turned into a total blasting zone below them. At this time, weapons that looked like cheesy are now the worst to use.

All in all. If you have enough patience to deal with tutorial..er..story mode and you have the friends to play against, go for this game. If you want mode arcade action, go for Virtual On. If you need more depth, then go for Armored Core.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 06/27/04