Battle Bots: Beyond the Battlebox

Who hasn't heard of BattleBots? If you happen to be one of the few who have missed the cable phenomenon where homemade robots battle each other in an arena with weapons like saws and spikes, you have missed out on some fun TV moments. But where there is a popular event on TV, soon a game will follow...

If you can't get enough of the strategy and fun of ripping apart an opponents' robot and shredding them to death, all the action has been captured in the Game Boy Advance version of BattleBots. Unfortunately, while the elements are there for a great handheld title, it failed to capture me like the TV show has. A quick look at the title will show some very sub-par graphics. Each of the five arenas is very choppy and don't take advantage of any of the colors the GBA has available in its arsenal. Even though there are 18 standard robots to battle with, they just don't look very cool... like they do on the show.

Not far behind the sub-par graphics is the AI. The computer can be easily tricked into just sitting and getting hammered by the environments. Once you defeat your enemy (it won't take much skill), it is extremely confusing to repair and upgrade your BattleBot. Fortunately, the developers included the ability to create a custom BattleBot. In fact, why else would you want to play BattleBots unless you could build your own bot to wreak havoc on the world? Unfortunately, because the upgrade and repair system is so complex, and it can require over 8 buttons presses to just fix a bot after a match, the fun is quickly sapped out. To make matters worse, several times I would purchase an item and it would disappear before I could equip it!

While this is certainly not a title I would recommend purchasing, if you are a fan of the show, you may be intrigued to try it since it is based on the BattleBots franchise. And lets be honest, who doesn't want to build their own robot and battle it out? With a multiplayer mode--allowing for up to four players to battle it out to the death, you might consider this a one time rental with you and some buddies. However, don't expect to spend much more time than a few days in the title. All the fun will have worn off by then.