Custom Robo Arena

"There is no battle greater than one fought by tiny robots."

Custom Robo Arena is essentially all the fun of training an animal to fight other animals, but in robot form! You start out as a kid in the future who's moving into a new town. Everyone in the town is obsessed with battling their little robots, so your dad gets you one of your own and your adventure begins! The story is pretty weak through most of the game, and while it does get interesting, it's unfortunately not until close to the end.

You go around in an RPG-like world going through the main story and challenging people to robot battles. To do this, you merely go to the customize screen and fight. Basically each fight starts out in a giant cannon, and you decide which direction it shoots you in. You then rapidly hit buttons to get your robot into battle formation and then start using your weapons. You can jump around, lay bombs, or shoot your opponent with guns, and it's quite fun. Your robot is highly customizable, allowing you to change its appearance (also changing its stats), changing its gun (ranging from flamethrowers to green lasers), different bomb types, and different leg types. Heck, you can even change its background opening for when it strikes a pose before a fight. This makes the game very fun, allowing you to test tons of combinations to fit your playing style. The arenas add to the fun as well, whether it makes walls temporarily invisible, or they place a pond of acid in the middle of the stage, the arenas aren't dull at all.

As you go through the story you'll fight in tournaments and take down bosses, but most if it will all be pretty easy. There will be annoying parts where you'll have to walk all over the over-world trying to find something, and then have to hike it to a far away place. The main story is also not that long, and a bit repetitive because you'll fight the same people a lot and they won't do much to change their style. You'll encounter side missions you can do where you'll have to win battles under certain conditions, but most of them are hidden and you won't really bother to look for them until after you finish the main game. They give you a Commander Rank, which you can increase by winning battles, but besides getting through a certain point in the story it won't do much for you.

The music is rock, it's odd, but it seems to suit the spirit of anime robot battles perfectly. The over-world music can get annoying though, because it almost never changes and you spend long amounts of time there. The graphics are both 2D and 3D, 2D for the RPG over-world, which isn't all that impressive, and 3D for the robot battles which I love. The robot battles really look awesome, and it adds to the experience. While the main game is short, there's a ton to do afterwards including challenges and grudge matches (which is basically letting you play any boss you want after meeting a certain requirement). They've also added an online multi-player, so even after you think you're a master you can conquer all players!

Custom Robo is a great game, and while it may not have the best story, but it more than makes up for it with fun, and an online multi-player.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 05/31/07, Updated 06/04/07