| Introduction
This game's a few months old now but, as the television
series is still incredibly popular and there's a GameBoy
Advance version in the works, we thought we'd give it
a second look. Robot Wars does exactly what it says
on the box so if you've ever watched the programme and
thought you could do better, then here's your chance.
Screaming audiences and enthusiastic teenagers who apparently
take apart anything useful in their house and reassemble
it into a robot killing machine. Will the next nutter
with a killer dish washer come on down...
GamePlay
The first thing you'll notice about this title is
the amount of options on offer. The developers could
have gone for a straight 'construct your robot and fight
game' but instead they've obviously put a great deal
of thought into the overall design. Before you even
consider entering one of the other arenas and fighting
with other robots it's a good idea to put in some practice
and you do this in the trials.
The trials are split up into various areas but are
all designed to help you equip your robot with various
skills so that winning a grudge match may be a little
easier. Skittles will have you racing around an arena
trying to knock down as may pins as possible in the
fastest time whilst the object in the Slalom section
is to navigate an obstacle course before the counter
reaches zero. Gauntlet is another course-based challenge
but here you must survive with as little damage as possible
and finally, our favourite, the Robot Sumo. As the title
suggests this is about between two robots using all
their skill and judgement to stay in the arena and avoid
the deadly pits.
When you're confident enough it's off to the robot
arena and the War Zone but not before you've dropped
off at the Workshop to actually design and construct
your fighting machine. Everything you need is here from
various body shells and weapons to engines and wheels.
The War Zone itself is similar to a championship mode
in other games and the aim is to win as many rounds
as possible.
One of the best options is to 'link-up' although,
as this is a humble GameBoy Color, you'll both need
a copy of the game and a 'Universal Game Link'. The
inclusion of the battery back-up for saving data is
also a welcome addition as the password system would
have been incredibly complicated with the hi-scores
for each of the trials and the arenas.
Control
The menus are very clear and easy to navigate through
but the robots themselves take some getting used to.
This is because the control is not as simple as, for
instance, pressing the 'd-pad' in a given direction
and assuming you move that way. 'Up' is always forward
and 'down' is reverse and 'left' and 'right' are obvious.
Fortunately there is plenty of opportunity to practice
before you enter the main arena so, if you want to last
more than one round, I'd suggest you do just that.
Graphics
Because of the industrial landscape that Robot Wars
takes place in most of the backgrounds are constructed
in shades of blue, leaving the remaining colors for
robots and special effects. Some of the animation is
nice and there's a FMV intro but there's nothing outstanding
here and the graphics throughout remain purely functional.
Sound & Music
Before I even played this title I was well aware
that the soundtrack needed to be something special in
order to set the atmosphere. After all, this is all
about having the audience behind you. Will you survive?
What are the chances of you getting smashed to bits?
Will you become the Champion Robot? Fortunately it's
actually quite good and has the feel of marching into
some futuristic battle which, of course, is what you
are doing. There are some incidental sounds consisting
of the odd bang or bash but the music tends to drown
these out.
Final Comments
If you watch the series or have any interest in this
type of game the odds are you're going to enjoy Robot
Wars. There are loads of options on offer here. Just
playing through every section once will take you some
time and that's even before you have a link-up game.
GameBoy Advance owners should probably hang on for a
couple of months until the release of the new version
as it's looking incredible and, as long as they keep
the gameplay intact, it should be a must have title.
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