Custom Robo is a tedious, but enjoyable game of pure strategy in which most battles are won before they even begin.
The main story mode, entitled "A New Journey," is simple and straightforward, but manages to be an enjoyable experience as it constantly surprises players over the eight to ten hours it will take to complete. Further, its linear structure is the perfect introduction of Custom Robo on the international stage as it starts with the quintessential basics in a tutorial-like fashion introducing both the player and their uninformed character to the world in which they live. Through each step of the journey, more and more of the intricacies of Custom Robos, bounty hunting and the world around are explained. Unfortunately, the main story doesn't ever manage to escape this design making it so the game often progresses at too slow a pace. In spite of a well-written narrative players will be subjected, without any audio voiceovers, to countless walls of text prior to every battle that explain something the player often already figured out on their own. While this tedium is initially necessary, this process of how to inform the player as to what is going on is tiresome and contradictory due to the trial-and-error methodology of the relatively easy to understand strategy elements and highly intuitive controls in the game. This subsequently degrades the main story mode from being amazing to being a mostly enjoyable experience.
To make matters worse this is a game that encourages players, through unlockable arenas and Custom Robo parts, to engage in multiple playthroughs of the main story mode. Second and third playthroughs, which are required to unlock everything in the game, are beyond frustrating as the game makes the flawed assumption that everyone playing the story mode needs eight to ten hours of instruction on the most basic elements of Custom Robos.
Fortunately, there are vast amounts of replayability in other facets of Custom Robo. In addition to a versus mode which allows up to four players in both tag and free for all settings, there are arcade battles which pit the player against increasingly intelligent computer opponents. Although these options are enjoyable, the primary reason that gamers will keep coming back to Custom Robo is "The Grand Battle" narrative which is unlocked through the completion of the main story. This mode plays exactly as it sounds as the player fights against every character in the game. Its primary focus, despite it extending on the original story presented in "A New Journey," is on players achieving the highest possible score, earning trophies, and subsequently unlocking dozens upon dozens of Custom Robo parts. Strategy is even more apparent and well implemented in this mode as every battle is unique due to the settings being constantly tweaked and re-tweaked as the player challenges each successive opponent. Nevertheless, this narrative suffers from all the same frustrations as "A New Journey" as well as some of its own including the very pervasive issue of the player having the inability to save at will. While this seems to be a minor issue, the fact that the game only saves when it feels that something significant has been accomplished often adds to the overarching tedium found in Custom Robo by forcing players to re-travel to a location on the map, and even re-fight already beaten opponent(s).
Nonetheless, the gameplay behind Custom Robo is mostly enjoyable regardless of the mode it is played in. Gamers assume the role of a "commander" who "dives" into a "Custom Robo" in order to engage in an up to two minute battle utilizing its guns, bombs, thrusters, and pods to inflict damage on its opponent(s). The goal is always to reduce an enemy's hit points from one thousand to zero leaving them unable to battle, and consequently knocking their human commander unconsciousness. This is normally accomplished in a three dimensional arena, called a Holosseum, from a well placed aerial vantage point, but there is an unlockable first person view option which adds another layer of enjoyment and some much needed difficultly to the game.
While on the surface this title appears to be a mostly action game, it is actually one of almost pure strategy. There are dozens of unlockables for each of the five attachments that make up your unique Custom Robo including the aforementioned weapons as well as various Custom Robo models. Each part has varying attributes of speed, power, etc that shape the style in which a gamer should play. This, when combined with the dozens of maps that range from ice that is near impossible to run on to battlefields with moving conveyor belts and the equally diverse options available to enemies when customizing their Robos, makes it so the majority of battles are won before they even begin. While there are the occasional exceptions where one combatant makes a fatal mistake more often than not you will lose, especially once you get a few hours into the game, if you try to battle the odds in designing a strategically disadvantaged Robo relative to your opponent in a given situation.
However, with an action game built almost entirely on strategy comes the issue of inconsistent difficultly illogically spanning from frustratingly easy to near impossible over the course of every game mode. Players will walk through dozens of enemies without a single scratch, lose half a dozen times to the same opponent, and then continue with the same Robo without issue for several more battles. A good match, while extremely enjoyable, is often too hard to come by in the single player game modes as you will either overpower your opponents or have to implement a trial-and-error strategy to defeat the "tougher" Commanders in the game. These "tougher" opponents aren't the result of balance issues as there are only a few overpowering weapons, but rather are just the individuals who battle in a style that is directly detrimental to the one you employ subsequently forcing you to modify your otherwise unchallenged Robo in order to win that one battle.
The multiplayer, which is relegated to the aforementioned versus mode, is almost as equally frustrating with the only redeeming quality being that players will often try to one up each in other in building Robos that directly combat each other's style of battle. However, this method of gameplay doesn't hold all that much value as the statistics kept are a mess to sift through, and there is no way to save favourite Custom Robo builds forcing you to re-input your Robo design before every battle that occurs in this mode. This latter issue, while not a game breaker, is a monotonous exercise that could've easily been remedied with the introduction of user profiles into the game. Nevertheless, the multiplayer is enjoyable, and extremely useful for testing the different Custom Robo designs. However it, due to the same combat issues of being able to build Robos with very few weaknesses that is prevalent in the story modes, ultimately fails to provide an experience that lasts longer than a few matches at a time.
The graphics are not amazing by any standard, but their anime-esque style fits the overarching mood of the game quite well. There are only a few horribly done animations, none of which occur during battles, as both the Robos and the arenas in which they fight are well designed with a decent level of detail put into differentiating each element and its abilities.
On the other hand, the Custom Robo soundtrack never seems appropriate to the situation at hand, and is entirely too bland to affect the experience in a positive way. While there are a couple decent tracks, all enjoyment from them is quickly diminished as they are relentlessly repeated over and over despite the ever-changing situation in the game. The only somewhat redeeming quality of the audio experience is the in-battle sound effects which are suitable and get the job done so as not to take away from the gameplay.
In short, Custom Robo's story mode progresses too slowly, has bland audio support, and can be frustratingly easy, but still manages to be a fun, engaging and replayable action-strategy game that specializes in the single player experience while providing a somewhat enjoyable multiplayer setup . Although the game can be unnecessarily tedious at times, finding a good match is well worth the frustration that players will be constantly subjected to in playing Custom Robo on the Nintendo Gamecube.