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From the downloadable reaches of Xbox Live Arcade comes an original, quirky, yet addicting game - if you are into using your noodle to progress further into it. Oddly enough, the original description of the game seemed a bit muddled and with words and terms like "Unreal Engine 3", "Robots", and "Havok Engine" and one would have assumed that this would be a shooter. Alas, the game is Roboblitz and is a puzzle-solving title, which allows you to use the left side of your brain for once. Roboblitz looks the part with brilliant textures, lighting, and a remarkable physics engine that will move things unpredictably as you toss, throw, or manipulate them. It is actually the physics engine and the numerous ways they are utilized that are the real stars of the game. The main character for Roboblitz looks much like a droid throwaway idea from the Star Wars universe, cute, but lacking any real personality. The same can actually be said for the environments, which at first glance look terrific, but once you become familiar with its beauty, it becomes stale to look at time after time.
Audio is ho hum with somber sounds, humming machinery, lackluster tech music and damn if the clanging around of metal can doesn't grate your nerves after a while. More voice acting and better ambience filler would have been better than the bleeps and bloops that accompany you while you solve these puzzles. Thankfully, there are always custom soundtracks. Controlling your character and performing actions is a snap, this allows for easy navigation and getting from one point to another and pressing buttons a breeze, which thankfully is a big part of the game. The game feels a bit clunky in the bits of action the game provides as attacking and grabbing objects seems a bit loose due to or because of the Havok engine and the developer's collision detection upon them. There are a ton of great puzzles to solve in various ways and situations. Whether you are maneuvering mirrors to focus beams of light to open door ways, or getting packages here and there by ways of a conveyor belt, the game tries to scratch your noggin. With around 20 levels and a few gadgets that allow you to re-attempt prior levels for better times, you will find plenty of goodness from the game. At a whopping 1200 points (the most expensive of the XBLA titles) and lack of any multiplayer depth, you will soon grow tired once you have seen and done everything once as the game offers little to keep revisiting this land. Kudos to the developers for devising a pretty game with great puzzle solving techniques and a fantastic physics engine in 50MB of data. 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.
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