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Game Review - Robot Arena 2


Phoenyx

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This is a game that I want to review, but at the same time I dread to review. This is a game that is both innovative and lackluster, both fun and boring, and both a technical marvel and a glitchy mess that makes Sonic '06 look like a masterpiece.

This game is called Robot Arena 2. Made by Infograms, arguably one of the worst games developers ever.

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I really don't know how to define it. A lot of people call it a hack-'n'-slash RPG combined with a simulator, but I consider it more of a sports/action/simulator game.

One look at the menu and you know this game isn't a blockbuster hit. The "utility" buttons are your standard fair, although there isn't any control preferences in the options popup menu. Strange, isn't it? More on that.

Usually I would click the first option, but this game is a bit different than other games, so let's see what's available under Team HQ first...

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WHOA!!! Hello there. You can create your own teams, as you can probably see already. You're probably starting to see what's coming, so let's dive into the deep end and build a robot.

Before we do that, though, we need to create a team. Granted we could just use a pre-existing team, but that would ruin the review.

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Now we have ourselves a new team. Of course, this team doesn't have any robots. Before we build something, though, let me show you what everything else does.

You can see that the Robot Inventory is the default. League Standings shows how well your team is doing in the current season, Event Schedule is the different "Career Mode" events, and Team History is the different trophies and stats that you have won.

Alright. Now for the meat of the game.

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This is the blank slate that you can use to create a new machine. There are three different weight classes, Lightweight, Middleweight and Heavyweight. We'll go for a Middleweight robot, just under 400KG. Note that the weight system isn't realistic.

When you click the Chassis tab, you will see a screen with two buttons. Hit "Design Chassis" to start.

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You basically draw your chassis similar to MS Paint's polygon tool. You're limited to twelve points, though.

You can then set your chassis height.

'Tip:'

Set your chassis as low as possible, though make sure you can fit the components you want inside the chassis. This will make your robot harder to hit, although it will be at a slight cost in HP.

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You can then chose your armour. Plastic is the lightest, but the weakest of the four choices. Aluminum is slightly stronger but also slightly heavier. Titanium is stronger than aluminum but heavier, and Steel is the strongest and heaviest choice.

'Tip:'

If you don't set your armour, your robot will be equipped with Dual Strength Aluminum. DSA weighs as much as aluminum but is almost as strong as steel. I highly recommend using DSA rather any of the normal choices. Use plastic if you need the weight for your drivetrain or weapons, but don't use aluminum, titanium or steel!

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When building your robot, you place components inside your chassis. You can also use extenders to attach most components outside the chassis, or in ways that would otherwise be impossible.

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'Tip:'

There are many glitches that you can use in this game to your advantage. Some may allow you to increase the power of a flipper or spinner, or cause a robot to spazz-out spectacularly and beneficially, but most just allow you to place things in ways you normally wouldn't be able to. Also keep a look out for stacks, where you can attach components that overlap other components.

'Tip:'

Make sure your chassis is tightly packed. Empty space is wasted weight.

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Remember when I said there weren't control options? Well, I kinda lied. You can set your controls any way you want for each robot.

Now we can test our robot, but first we need to make it look better than just plain DSA white.

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'Tip:'

If a robot is shiny, chances are it is using regular armour. If it is dull, it is using DSA or Dual Strength Steel. DSS is only available to the AI, so watch out!

That's better. Now to take the thing to the garage.

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Looks like we got a live one. In case you're wondering if I'm using any glitches, I used DSA for armour and a glitch called the eFFe glitch to build the weapon spinners. Check out the Robot Arena 2 Wiki to learn more about RA2 glitches.

Alright... let's get into a tourny.

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GAH!!!!! Windows 7 Crash edition has struck again! I really need to finally download that upgrade to Ultimate so I can install Windows XP mode...

Still, it's pretty easy to get the hang of everything.

Now let's check out Exhibition mode.

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This is where you can create your own battles. You can set up a match with the AI, or have the AI fight itself. The AI is pretty dumb, though some times it can get some cheap wins by pinning you and somehow not getting counted out while you're being counted out. Also, Emergency, a giant of a heavyweight flipper, will dominate your early days with this game.

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Here I'm driving a robot I built before called Ad-Block Plus 2.0. It's a Middleweight Popup (a type of robot that combines both a flipper and a hammer into one weapon system to strike at the bottom of the chassis) that can do on average 800 damage a hit. That's actually pretty impressive, although the bot needs a bit of fine-tuning before it can go toe-to-toe with the best robots out there on the internet. Speaking of online...

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This is the network multiplayer selection screen. Don't bother with this for internet games - the lag is so bad it's unplayable.

'Tip:'

When building competitively, it is ok - encouraged, in fact - to exploit glitches. You won't get too far without doing so.

Now for my verdict and recommendation...

Graphics: 3/5 For its time, being able to basically make your own graphics in-game is impressive. However, everything else is basic N64 polygon counts with PS1 textures.

Gameplay: 4/5 Except for the glitches and buggy physics, the game is innovative and plays quite well.

AI: 1/5 Cheap and lazy.

Sound: 2/5 Cheap and lazy folly. Quality is good, though.

Music: 2/5 A bad mashup of slow, poorly written industrial music, but you can easily mod your own music in.

Moddability: 5/5 One of the best games when it comes to modding. There's a forum called GameTechMods that has an entire section devoted to modding, and they've already developed the one tool necessary - an archive decompiler. Everything else can be modded with commonly available programs.

Overall: 3/5 Nothing spectacular, good or bad. It's a decent time-waster and a great game for modding, but nothing else.

I recommend this game. Despite its flaws, I can easily recommend it. It's a game that was overlooked by a lot of people, and even though it's nothing special it still deserves a look.

Best for: Fans of Robot Wars, Battlebots and Combots; modders; people with too much time on their hands; underground competitive gamers who want a different experience

Mismatch: FPS junkies; UBER-1337 GAMRZ; People who don't like glitchy games; People who don't like exploiting glitches; People who don't like old games

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My Tech Teacher found a group in my town that builds robots for battle, And he got my school to approve of having extra credit classes working on robots with the group.

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NEDZ MOAR QUIK-SC0PE NUB.

Says the FPS junkie. :D

My Tech Teacher found a group in my town that builds robots for battle, And he got my school to approve of having extra credit classes working on robots with the group.

Sweet. I'm glad there's still widespread interest in the sport of combat robotics.

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