Robo Pit

"The best THQ game no one played!"

For some reason rooting through my old stuff I always find really awesome games that haven't been opened, or that I don't remember playing. Enter Robo Pit...or actually I should say enter THE Robo Pit. Within this crazy game you can design your own robot, changing color, legs, arms, body, eyes, and head to fit your whims. Then you enter your robot in a ''league'' of sorts to become the number 1 robot there is! Every time you beat an opponent not only do you get points to move you up in the rankings, you also get to take one of their weapons! This game is quality!

Graphics: 8/10
These aren't half bad for when this game came out. They can get a little pixely from time to time, but the real genius is that the graphics only cover a fairly small arena so they can spend time making the robots look awesome. And they are for a release in 1996 (I believe in 96). There are also little 'hitting' animations which I really like, for example when you hit someone with a weapon, there's a little explosion of sorts. Also the beginning cinema is pretty rocking, with what all the robots fighting and so on. Very cool use of CG.

Gameplay: 10/10
This game quite frankly rocks house here. This is the most inventive idea I've ever seen. first off, there's the serendipity of choosing parts for your robot. Aesthetically design your robot's color, face, legs, body-a whole bunch of stuff-but that's not all. In actuality, several parts have different advantages-for example if you pick wheels for legs you can go very fast, if you pick a monopod leg you can jump very high, various bodies give you more attack or defense. Do you see the width and breadth I'm getting at here? Picking your robot seems very simple at first but the depth of strategy you can use is limitless.
Of course, the robot still needs weapons. You start out with some very basic stuff, spears and so on-but the variety of weapons you can get is ridiculous. Lasers, crossbows, 'punch' weapons that let you punch and pick up rocks in the arena, shields, swords, maces, scythes, suckers that attach and bring your opponent back to you, missiles...the number of weapons is around 30. 30 different ways to kill your opponent-but obviously you have 2 arms so different weapon combos can be experimented with; all this makes for a ridiculously deep robot battle game.
Also, this game has sort of a ''limit bar'' for those of you who have played certain Final Fantasies. When your robot dishes out or takes enough damage, a bar at the top of your screen begins to flash. Depending on what type of body you chose, you will have 2 different options. For example, pressing R1 will get you EITHER a straight stream of fire that will do damage to your opponent or a wide radius of fire that spreads out from you. So now the 'limit breaks' can even be planned strategically. It just amazes me the sheer amount of effort Kokopeli (sub company of THQ) and Altron put into this game.
There are some problems in battle however. There is a timer for one thing-not that I'm against timers, but one strategy I found to beating people easily was to hit them first, then hop around the arena until time ran out and since they had more damage I was declared the winner. You can also knock your opponent off the arena stage and win that way. Two very cheap ways to win fairly easily against superior opponents. Luckily against the final boss (who is actually very tough) both these ways are impossible as the timer is set at 99 permanently and the bad guy can't be pushed out of the ring. This makes for a real challenge, especially given his far-out weaponry that kills with ease.
Overall, this game combines the fun of several genres. Creating your own robot, strategizing, fighting other robots, and the manic fun of weapon collecting make this title's gameplay killer. It can get very challanging at some points, but beating the game is a very attainable goal.

Sound/Music:8/10
The sound is really good. The explosions sound like they hurt, things clanking off shields sound like they should, and cutters hitting people. Amazing. The music is nothing good, but mainly you're focusing on beating the next robot and the music is simply white noise that given the frantic pace of the battles is easily tuned out. Not to say that it's bad, but for one thing fighting games are not renowned for their music particularly, and for another its much cooler to smash up other robots listening to Rage Against the Machine or Led Zeppelin than the games own funky tunes.

Replay Value:5/10
Once you beat this game after about maybe 11 hours of play there's not really any challenge left. It would be cool if they had another league but sadly they don't, so your robot just sits at the top of the rankings occasionally beating up other robots. The joy is not in being first, but in the struggle to get there. I've played this one over twice just for old times sake but for most people once you beat this you're done with it.

Overall:9/10
I haven't really heard of Kokopeli or Altron since this game (which is a shame), but even with this greta game they probably went under. As for the final rating, obviously story isn't really included in this game, and it doesn't really need to be. The gameplay alone is enough to carry this bad boy to a 9/10. The only negatives I can think of are the short amount of gameplay time, and the fact that the music isn't stellar. Still, a game you should try to find and buy for somewhere in the price range of (most likely) 5-10 dollars. That is, if you can find someone willing to part with this great game.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 02/21/03, Updated 02/21/03