#gamezlab

'Robot Wars: Extreme Destruction'

[GBA / PC / XBOX] [UK] [MAGAZINE] [2002]

"The best thing about this game is that without having to appear on TV parading your lack of a social life you can, in the privacy of your own home, live out your geek fantasies by naming and building your own robot and then taking it into battle. Sadly though, soon after cobbling together your first machine from a range of body parts, engines, wheels and weapons, Robot Wars reveals itself to be one of the most shoddy and cack-handed titles yet witnessed on the Xbox. Although the atmosphere of the TV series is here the real-life commentator incessantly barks throughout and there's many of the more 'famous' bots from the show control of your robot is just plain dire. Firstly, there's hardly any gradient in turns; secondly there's little feeling of weight or inertia when moving or in using of your weapons, but most damning is the Al of the opposition. No matter which game mode you play, your opponents do one of two things: either stick to you like a magnet or act confused. More often than not, they do both. Add to this that you've got only a small degree of control of your own robot and you'll soon find that battles become a disappointing and uninvolving mess, punctuated by jerky visuals and little sense of doing damage. This game has barely any redeeming features other than its license, yet even the most diehard Robot Wars fan could glean little fun from a title so barely lacking in gameplay." ~Byron Wilkinson, XBA (UK)