Robots for GameCube Reviews & Ratings by IGN

Pity the poor franchise developer. They've unloaded a fat sack of cash for the right to make a game that's based on a movie that they pray to all of the nearby gods will be a hit. If so, then no matter what they do the movie will then pull their game along to the land of success. It's the American dream and Robots follows that beautiful dream to the franchise land. It would've been nice if there was a real game that was included, though. Really nice.

Robots has been given a special problem of being based on a movie and is able to use many of the art assets of the regular movie, but only a tiny fraction of footage and absolutely none of the cinematic voiceovers. The result is a game that is only worth the cash if you've seen the movie, absolutely loved it, and happen to be under the age of 12. All other gamers need not apply for what's going on here.

The Robots experience can be summed up in just a few sentences. You're in a place where someone wants to make something, but all 16 parts have been scattered around the area. After collecting them by jumping on several platforms and running around, the main character Rodney Copperbottom will be able to move onto the next challenge. A silent clip from the movie plays while a narrator spouts out a two line summary of what's happened and then it's onto the next area to collect 16 more widgets. Occasionally, Rodney will have to roll around in a metal ball through the city highway and be extra careful not to bump anything.

What hurts about the action is that it's apparent that the developers put some thought into creating a few unique challenges in the game. Some puzzles should be learned from and used elsewhere, but the rest of it is pretty much generic platform jumping that is best avoided if you've done anything remotely similar before. See Rodney double jump. See Rodney climb boxes. See Rodney bonk his head and fall into the abyss. Wait a second...

If you want to enjoy some very careful maneuvering of Rodney in a world where getting on a platform can sometimes be a technical feat to be treasured in and of itself this is the spot to be. The camera contributes in its own little way by being in the wrong place at the right time here and there, but it's the wide array of overhangs and invisibly individual ledges that contribute to the most frustration. There are some platforms that Rodney can scramble up on and others that look identical that he can't catch hold of and he'll dutifully fall down into a vat of acid. Even when he does catch on and is holding on the same button will sometimes make him climb up and sometimes just drop him down. Trial and error is king here.

When not clambering around, Rodney will fight some bad guys and this is all pretty simple to pull off. Shooting pieces of scrap and swinging a wrench is awkward, yet effective against the simple creatures that attack. If any of this fails, don't worry since the game is generous with its invisible checkpoints, restarting Rodney just a few paces back from where he bit it and in full health.

It's apparent that the developers love their own material because they have no problem putting it to use in a few different ways. Several of the missions inolve a lot of backtracking that's intentional and plenty more that's unintentional if you happen to miss one crucial item along the way. There's also the outdoor "freeway" that is one looped piece of curving half-pipe where all of the robots in Robot City go to get around. Rodney goes here to go to a new place in the game as well as to race and again later to pick up more scattered pieces for another thing that does something or other to get to the next place to find more scattered objects.

After playing for even just a little bit it's clear that the game was made solely for the purpose of appealing to fans who want to play as Rodney and do errands that are one tiny evolutionary step beyond buying some groceries from a sketchy corner store. Albeit a corner store that keeps all of its items on fantastically high racks with jump pads and rotating platforms between them.

At the very least the game has managed to be continuous with the movie in terms of style and the models look similar to those in the cut-scenes. The graphics are also good enough, smooth and clean if not visually spectacular. It's really the audio where it hurts the most since Rodney has some typically crap phrases to speak and every single clip from the movie is utterly quiet except for some music in the background. If anything, this game is missing a huge chunk of exposition and reasoning and anything story-related that the movie itself can complete.

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