RoboBlitz

RoboBlitz is one of the very best, if not the best Xbox Live Arcade release so far - and one of the few titles from the Arcade that's great enough to have stood on its own as a full commercial release.

It's unique, sports great visuals, and is a blast to play. With a free downloadable multiplayer component slated for release in the coming weeks, it's a good value, too.

While not as essential as a title like Geometry Wars, Roboblitz can still be a charming and enjoyable experience, definitely setting new precedents for future Arcade releases. However at times it feels a little too much like an Unreal Engine 3 tech-demo than a game in its own right.

Now if there were only an online multiplayer component to RoboBlitz, it would be almost perfect. Instead we’ll just play it over and over to get all the achievements.

Easily one of the best XBLA games out there. Sure, it doesn’t have the staying power as the totally addictive (and online) UNO, or the intensity of mind-blowing visual shooters like Mutant Storm or Geometry Wars, but this is a great effort that uses a totally new 3D engine to create a unique world, creative and challenging puzzles, exciting boss fights, and a hero for a new generation.

The presentation is fine, and RoboBlitz's sheer challenge factor will probably attract serious platformer fans. It's frustrating, though, and all the moreso when a seemingly simple task just refuses to work for no good reason.

RoboBlitz is a quaint and easy puzzle game with some very nice visuals, and a very cheap price tag.

A little more challenge to the puzzles and a little less emphasis on realism in the physics department would have helped make RoboBlitz a better game.

Part action game and part puzzle game. While it isn’t the best at either genre, it is a rather entertaining but short and expensive game. If the multiplayer and other content is released at no cost, I reserve the right to revise my feelings accordingly.

RoboBlitz is easily the most ambitious game released for the Xbox Live Arcade so far, and it's an impressive 3D platformer in its own right.

RoboBlitz may be a tad on the short side, but at around 15 bucks, the price of admission is perfect for the amount of fun you'll have with this game.

Considering the 50 MB limit posed by Microsoft on all Xbox Live Arcade games, RoboBlitz’s great Unreal Engine 3 powered graphics are made all the more extraordinary. If only the gameplay were up to the same snuff.

Roboblitz is definitely not for the masses and the price tag will keep most of them at bay, but if you are a puzzle fan, you may want to dig into your points account as this original title brings plenty of brain for your buck.

Think the Xbox Live Arcade is nothing more than arcade ports and 2D puzzle games? Think again, because RoboBlitz is here to show you exactly what is capable when you put your mind to it. With its ambitious game play and engaging puzzles RoboBlitz is an easy game to recommend, even with the higher than usual price point.

The main problem with RoboBlitz, even without the little hitches, is that the game isn't very exciting. The puzzles aren't terribly intricate or deep and the little enemies that are tossed at you feel a bit forced.

No disrespect to "Frogger" and "Bejeweled", but Xbox Live Arcade needs more games like Roboblitz. Score one for the next-generation, Tin Man. [Jan. 2007, p.73]

Despite some control issues, the game could have been a full retail game rather than a Live Arcade title; it's graphically superior to any xbox or PS2 game, it's not short and it features some innovative mechanics.

I found it to be a great-looking game that has some fun challenges—but more often than not ended up being unbalanced and frustrating.

With further add-ons and weapons to play around with, such as hover guns, tractor beams and point-to-point gravity pull, there's a lot of fun to be had. [Issue # 16, p.114]

It's truly a wonder that they managed to cram so much into the 50MB limit placed on Xbox Live Arcade games, and while it isn't something you'll come back to time and time again, RoboBlitz is a lot of fun while it lasts.