Gotcha Force involves Kou, a boy who meets up with a Gotcha Borg named G-Red. G-Red’s home planet was destroyed by the evil Death Force Army, and he calls on Kou to help him defeat the evil borgs.

The story mode lets Kou travel to different designated areas and battle other school kids against their Gotcha Borgs. New Gotcha Borgs can be collected after each battle and used to form a customized army. The individual parts on the borgs can’t be customized.

The controls are simple. The B button shoots when a target is far away or acts as a physical hit when the target is up close. The A button jumps and hovers if held down. A double tap to the left or right lets you dash. Finally, the X button acts as a super. Both the B and X attacks can be depleted and a meter in the lower left indicates when you can shoot again.

Each Borg has its own arsenal of weapons. Some are small and quick, others are big and powerful. There are over 200 Borgs to collect in all. The controls are simple and easy to pick up. The camera can swing in unviewable directions at times. The color pallete sticks to flat, bright colors that run at 60 frames per second in 1 player mode and 30 fps in the 2-4 player modes.

The main problem with Gotcha Force is that the game is tailored to children. The controls are simple, the battles are extremely easy, and the customization elements only extend to putting different groups of Borgs together. There’s not enough depth to interest adults or perhaps even teens.

Players can challenge each other with their army of Borgs or trade them via the memory card. Kids will enjoy the collecting element of the game. But without a detailed storyline or Saturday morning cartoon show, it’ll be hard for them to be attached to the characters.

Kids should enjoy Gotcha Force. The title is very easy to play and the characters, music, and tone are super kid-friendly. Adults and teen should find a copy of Virtual On or tune into Battlebots to get their robot battle fix.