Robo Wars Review

Robo Wars is a 2D fighter that pits your own robot against various colourful enemy robots, featuring simple controls and accessible gameplay. There are no moves or combos to learn; all you need is to destroy your opponent before they destroy you. There is no story here telling us why these robots are at war and fighting with each other, so you will have to figure out your reason for this hatred between the bots. Why can't they get along? 

There are 10 different stages you will travel to, ranging from the suburbs to rooftops, decks, and city ruins; there is variety here. Each location has 10 battles that you have to win to unlock the next area on the map. In these battles, you will face off against one of 12 different robots ranging from pirates, to skeletons, and even a robot with a fishbowl for its head; they will all be available to select as you progress through the stages. If you want to try out all the characters before unlocking them, try playing a match against a friend in rivalry mode; all the different robots are available to select for multiplayer battles.

Your robot can fly until it runs out of gas and can shoot as long as your meter hasn't run out; there is a short cooldown period until you can resume shooting at your enemy. There are parachutes with crates that fall from the sky; some contain health, ammunition, or gas that will last for a set amount of time, or missile strikes that rain down on all the robots on screen if you aren't careful and take cover. Beware, the enemy robot can also grab these items and use them against you, so be sure to collect as many as you can. 

When you win a fight, you will earn XP to level up your character and chests that hold items inside of them. You have to go to the chest option in the menu to open these up, and you can only hold a few at a time before running out of space. Some chests will let you open them with no problem, but others will cost coins to unlock. Even if you have enough money, a countdown will determine how much time you have to open it and how much you will pay. I am not sure why it is like this, but a few times, I sat there until the number got lower than the cost of the other chests and opened it up. Luckily it was easy to get more money as some of the boxes give you 10,000 coins, and I did not want to sit there wasting time watching it countdown, so I paid the total cost. The chest can contain items you can spend in the shop to upgrade your robot's stats and weapons or even unlock one of the other 12 characters in the game.

When you win green gems in battles, you can spend them on upgrading your robot's stats to improve its flight speed, how fast they move, and increase the amount of health they have. Your robot's stats aren’t the only thing available to upgrade; you can spend money on your weapons to boost the amount of damage they deal, rate of fire, loading speed, and increase the magazine size. 

Even though Robo Wars has 10 different stages, battling in each one 10 times made all the fights feel the same, especially with its minimalist design and lack of obstacles in the stages or platforms to use. I noticed that the main distinction between all my opponents was the type of gun they carried. The only other differences were the higher level robots would try to grab the falling items, but for the most part, they just looked varied; they didn't act differently. There were multiple times when I would be victorious; then, in my next battle, I was fighting the same opponent again…   

If you play this game and continuously get beaten by your opponent, go to the store and upgrade your robot's stats or weapons. If you are short on cash, you can always go back and play the early levels where your opponent is weaker and earn money and items to strengthen your character.

Robo Wars has catchy music and a cool simplistic design, but it feels very repetitive. I think this title might be more suited for a younger audience who might not be expecting as much and not care if there is no story. Rivalry mode helps switch things up since you can select any robot, and playing against another human player would make it more unpredictable.