Robots - Xbox

Based on Fox s animated film Robots combines unprecedented integration between movie and gameplay to bring the gamer into the unique world of the genius inventor robot named Rodney Copperbottom. Gamers will plays as Rodney as he moves to the big city to work for the company founded by his childhood hero. When Rodney uncovers a villain s plot to take over the city young Rodney and his friends overcome all obstacles to realize his dreams - and make the world a better place for all robots. Take wild rides in fast-paced robot vehicles upgrade your gadgets with cooler more useful parts and team up with your trusty Wonderbot to solve challenging puzzles battle evil bots and explore a highly interactive 3D universe that brings the world of Robots the Movie to life. Experience the exciting world of Robots the Movie!TheRobots tie-in video game turns its intrepid hero Rodney Copperbottom into a rock- em sock- em action star. Roughly following the movie plot Rodney is a young inventor who moves to the big city in pursuit of an inventing job with the famous inventor Bigweld. He s rebuffed and discovers a plot to get rid of the older robots called outmodes. As Rodney the single player gathers bolts and blueprints for his inventions including Wonderbot and fights unfriendly robots by clubbing them with his wrench or blasting them with scrap metal. Collecting the blueprints and other items are usually the key to finishing a level and sometimes you just have to try any random action to find them (you re strongly recommended to upgrade to the object finder). Occasionally you ll run into other characters like Lug Cappy Tupper and Aunt Fanny but it s Rodney s show constantly accompanied and occasionally assisted by Wonderbot. There s also a dizzying arcade-like race in the transport pod (the DVD includes a one- to four-player head-to-head race version). The game feels a lot like Wallace and Gromit inProject Zoo. Both games offer a marvelous 3-D environment with a real sense of height and space collecting bolts for inventions is a central goal and both overrely on timed jumping which can be a problem when the camera perspective shifts. (The camera angle inRobots is a little easier to control however.) The sound-alike voice actors are solid and you can unlock video clips and other bonuses. All in all it s a fairly safe and fun game for kids to play or watch and if one of your measuring sticks of a game is not being able to beat it in a day or two Robots is long enough to offer a good deal of playing time.--David Horiuchi Pros: Three-dimensional world that allows you to fly jump fall etc. Looks great Fun for kids Cons At some point you ll probably get stuck either in a puzzle or looking for objects Too much timed jumping Only three save-game slots and some long stretches without save opportunities.