Robot Arena: Design & Destroy

The Good
Designing your ultimate bot is the best part of this game. Coming up with the right combinations of accessories to make your bot the best takes a combination of trial and error along with patience. There are a HUGE variety of combinations you can use to make your bot the best from axe blades and saws to hammers and spikes. Depending how much you want to put on the bot, you can build a bot that fits into three weight categories - lightweight, middleweight, and heavyweight.

The game's graphics aren't anything special, but you can see much of the damage you do to your opponent (or that which is done to you). Watching as you bash your opponent flat is lots of fun.

The variety of arenas to battle in are also a strong point in this game. Some arenas have flames, some have saws, some have holes, and some even move up and down making it hard to stay on. The wide variety of arena types allow the game to be interesting and challenging and make for better replayability.

The Bad
The graphics could have used a little more work to really show damage. Although you see much of the damage you would expect, it would be nice to have the damage more detailed... that IS why we play the game - to destroy the other bots.

If you play in single-player mode, you are stuck with only a small number of opponents to battle against. This makes it a bit boring at times if you don't have anyone to battle with online.

Designing the bots could perhaps have been made a little easier. It is not always easy to line up things, such as making the wheels level or having two hammers lined up correctly. Although this is more a personal preference than any real problem with the game, I would love to have the ability to line things up more easily... and the ability to be able to see where something can fit -- sometimes you can't manage to make that final piece fit into the bot.

The Bottom Line
If you like the television shows about bot battles, you will love this game. It takes much of what you see on TV and converts it into a great game. Some additions to the game would be great, but overall this is an excellent game and worth playing.

There is no better game for bot battles out there were you get free control over how your bot looks and acts.