Too good for the word "Robot"
| Platform | Presentation | Controls | Variety | Audio | Depth | Value & Fun | OVERALL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nintendo DS | 8.00 | 9.00 | 7.50 | 7.50 | 9.00 | 8.00 | 8.01 |
| General Information |
| Previously played game in the series: Custom Robo (GameCube). |
| Gameplay Description |
| Custom Robo Arena is an action game in which you fight battles using a robot (robo) with which you choose which parts to use from a continually expanding arsenal. You can choose your gun, which is your main weapon; bombs which explode on contact; pods which temporary stay on the map and explode if a robo comes in contact with it; body which determines the speed, power and other attributes; and feet which affects your movement. |
| Dedication Meter | 30.00 |
| The gameplay is relatively simple and easy to get into, but exploring the city and getting into the little sidequests make the game much more enjoyable. | |
| Presentation | 8.00 |
|
Custom Robo Arena isn't out to dazzle, but present a nice crisp look and leave it up to the gameplay. The overworld follows the theme with a very nice style and solid colours, almost reminiscent of a Pokemon world. The character sprites have an small animation that plays which really livens things up well. Once you dive into battle, the game goes into 3D. The 3D is rather rudimentary, but befitting the game. Things are actually a bit easier to follow compared to the prior GameCube Custom Robo game, partially because of this simplification. The animations are solid, though, and there's no slowdown whatsoever. Overall, the 3D works, but is a bit ugly. |
|
| Controls | 9.00 |
|
While in the overworld, you move around with the D-pad (quite quickly, which is a plus) and talk or check physical object with 'A'. As for in battle, you jump with 'A', your gun is fired with 'B', bombs are mapped to 'R', pods are used with 'L' and you dash with 'Y', all while moving with the D-pad. There's nothing overly complicated to do, and the other problem is knowing when you can refire your bombs and pods, which you have to look down to the bottom screen to see (which is impractical). What's most important about the controls is the aspect that is out of your control--how you move. How fast, how far, and how high. These have all been refined over the GameCube iteration to get the most out of the strategic value of the different parts. Now all kinds of robos have distinct advantages and disadvantages. There's never going to be an instance where controls determine the outcome of a match, and that's a good benchmark for good controls. |
|
| Variety | 7.50 |
|
When it comes to the Robos, there are plenty of parts to go around. Over 50 Robos, about the same for Guns and Bombs, if not as many Pods, and about 20 legs. There are some obvious dud parts, though, such as the thoroughly useless Gravity Gun, but there are certainly enough parts to make for many different kinds of strategic combinations. The story has some sidequests such as catching criminals, and doing battles with limitations, such as having to use a certain gun or winning within a time limit. The gun restrictions can be rather frustrating given the said useless nature of some, and those quests seem to be made so you have to use all the worst parts. These quests, aside from criminal catching, are a bit too difficult to search out, though, and aren't particularly rewarding or interesting, so they'll likely be put off. As for the actual main storyline of the game, the gameplay is objectively quite repetitive as you are essentially just battling over and over, which makes the story and characters far more important than they'd typically be, because it has to make you want to battle as well as spread them out. In this regard, the game does an excellent job. The plotline is rather thin, but you have a lot of characters with lots of personality and generally well-written dialogue. |
|
| Audio | 7.50 |
| The music doesn't tend to stand out, but has a slightly catchy nature and doesn't come across as annoying. Sound effects are minimal. | |
| Depth | 9.00 |
|
The design of Custom Robo really makes you use different part combinations, because one set of parts isn't going to get you through every battle. Some weapons are just too slow against speedy bots, and some are completely useless against robos that move via ground rather than air. It's all a balance. All the parts have strategic impact, but the main parts are the body and gun. The body determines the type of the robo, which varies from being good in the air, to high defense, very fast or slow or high power and so forth. This is obviously a cornerstone of the strategy. The gun is the most effective offensive tool, so is naturally very important. The legs, pods and bombs merely accent those other two parts. The arenas (called holosseums) also manage to play a role in the strategy. While there are the a-typical cliched fire and ice levels, size and amount of obstruction can significantly alter the effectiveness of part combinations. The battles themselves are very much about timing and distancing yourself properly from your opponent. It doesn't work like a fighting game in which you can continually pound your opponent in close. The mechanics of the battle mean that hitting your opponent stuns him (varies by gun/bomb/pod) and after enough damage, knocks him down (also varies by gun/bomb/pod). Hitting your opponent while he is down causes less damage. Once up, your opponent has a period of invulnerability to keep you from trapping him. The differences in the distance of different guns combined with the downing aspect combines for a very tactical battle that is more about technique than finesse. |
|
| Value & Fun | 8.00 |
|
The game is a bit short, has a thin story and is generally repetitive--but it is just plain fun. The battles are simply great. Everything's well balanced, they control excellently, you're put up against many different robo combinations as well as environments. Battles are spread just far enough apart between little puzzles and plotpoints that you don't feel like you're battling ad-nauseum and losses come just often enough to keep you on your toes but not get you frustrated. The developers try to offset the lack of length, much like the GameCube iteration, but having an additional non-story-driven section to play through after you've finished the game. You need to play through this section, called Grudge Battles, to collect all the parts. In this section, you have to complete various tasks in order to fight these "Grudge Battles", such as using 20 different kinds of guns overall (which parts you have used are coloured in white on the menu screen, and haven't in gold, which was a nice organizational feature). It's a much slower (and consequently less fun) process and illustrates how important the story pacing was to the enjoyment of the game. There is some frustration, though, in the fact that the main challenges in the game are in fact the game, by its own admission, cheating. In the Custom Robo world, there are parts that are illegally powerful, which you'll be placed against. Basically, your opponents will use the same weapons you have available, only more powerful. It can definitely be aggrevating to be fighting a battle, both essentially using the same parts, hit your opponent more often, and lose. Ultimately, though, it's better to have these frustrations than less challenge. The biggest hindrance to the value of this game is actually the fact that there is only one save file. In order to play through the story again, you have to wipe the system information, which means losing all your parts, which if you want to collect them all, you have to go through the said slow and not-so-fun Grudge Matches. Basically you have to choose, after beating the game, between multiplayer and single-player because of this. |
|
| Value & Fun (with online) | 7.50 |
|
Yes, I am in fact taking points off for online. I'll repeat what I said in the without online section--the biggest hindrance to the value of this game is actually the fact that there is only one save file. Since having online gives a reason not to want to clear the save file, it is actually detrimental. As for the online mode itself, there is the option to play against random opponents, similarly ranked opponents, or rivals (you can add people to this list after playing them). Additionally, you can choose whether to play with or without illegal parts. Finding an opponent with a similar rank can be difficult, though, so you'll probably have to bite-the-bullet and play against anyone. The game plays as it should, and has little lag. In fact, you probably won't notice it right away if you battle with slow robos. However, when there is a Little Raider (the fastest type of robo on land) then lag can be a serious issue as a split second can make an apparent direct hit miss entirely, and that is basically a game-breaking glitch. It can create its own kind of strategy, but it's just not as fun. |
|
| Overall | 8.16 |
| Don't expect to be amazed. Custom Robo Arena is basically the videogame equivalent to a great B-movie. Nothing special, a little repetitive but a ton of fun. If you like customizing and you don't hate robos, be sure to dive into this one. | |
| Overall (with online) | 8.01 |
| Online creates a much more difficult decision if you want to play through the single-player campaign more than once, and I can't say that the extra gameplay option is worth the hassle. Still, the game remains recommended. | |
Posted by Ellyoda Tue, 07 Aug 2007 00:00:00
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