Lots of customization and fun combat makes it worth your while.
The story mode has you playing as a teenage lad who is trying to fulfill his lost father's wish of becoming a custom-robo commander. In an attempt to get his foot in the door, he falls in with a group of bounty hunters, the Steal Hearts, and soon uncovers a plot by the evil Z Syndicate to control the ultimate robo, and in turn control the world. Meanwhile, there's an unpiloted robot running loose in the city that needs to be stopped -- which is somehow connected to an ancient catastrophe. Only you and the Steel Hearts will be able to uncover this tangled plot.
This game is very simple in terms of structure in the story mode. Here is the general flow: the main character will wake up in the morning, either by a phone call or the landlady. Next you will go to a specific spot on the map. After that you will either find a criminal, or be entered into a tournament to find out who is the best Robo Commander around. After you solve your case/win the tournament for the day, you will go back home, the game will save, and a new day will start and you will go over this process again. While this does seem repetitive, and believe me it is, there is some charm about it because you know you will face new enemies in battle, and get new parts to upgrade your Robo.
The best thing about Custom Robo: Battle Revolution is the high level of customization. You will be able to customize parts consist of a body, legs, and three weapons: a gun, a bomb, and a pod. Each part type has five different stats, some of which are common across types. A body is rated for attack power, defensive power, how easy it is to knock down, how fast it moves while running, and its agility in the air. All three weapons have attack and speed in common, which determine how much damage the weapon does and how fast the shots travel, respectively. Bombs and pods are rated for how large the explosion they create, and how long the detonation stays on screen. Guns and pods are rated for their ability to home in on their target. Each weapon has a distinct role in the game, and while it's definitely possible to get by just using your gun, the best players will be able to use all three in combination.
What really creates the depth in the game, though, are the variations between individual parts themselves. The differences between the multiple, non-homing, high-speed shots of the gatling gun, the powerful, short-range shotgun, and the long-range, single shot, slow-moving dragon gun create a wide variety of tactics options. And those are just three of the fifty-two guns available! With the addition of thirty-four different bodies, sixteen leg types, forty-four bomb types, and forty-four pods, each with fairly distinct behavior, it can take a long time for you to find what parts complement both each other and your play style.
The challenge level is low. In the off chance that you do lose a bout, your game will restart right at the same battle -- giving you the chance to try again without penalty. If you were expecting a challenge throughout this game there isn't much of it. But it's still fun to play and isn't all bad. With the way you custom your Robo and various battles having hazards in the environments, the challenge can vary, but you won't have a ton of trouble though.
But if you're ready for a slightly harder single player challenge than the story mode, there's arcade and Grand Battle story mode. Grand Battle is a series of tournaments set up for you to compete in with tougher opponents and more parts to unlock. The big difference is that you won't have to suffer through mountains of text and instead can get straight to the point -- fighting with the city's residents. Arcade mode is similar to any arcade fighting mode. Your goal is to beat eight levels without meeting the big trash heap in the sky. This mode allows you to select from various setups like tag team or battle royale. These modes do make things a bit more interested, especially because it cuts out the foreplay and gets right to business.
After completing the story and Gran Battle, there's multiplayer, and the multiplayer battles have a wide variety of options as well. One to four players can play in two-on-two battles, three or four player battle royales, two-on-one handicap matches, and tag-team matches. You can set friendly fire options for each weapon, give players starting handicaps, and set time limits. Then the robos enter the selected holosseum. Robos don't immediately spring into action; first they are launched in cube form from a cannon and given a random countdown number from one to six. You have to tap buttons to make the countdown go as fast as possible. Only then will your robo come to life. Sometimes this lets you get in the first shot as your opponent(s) are still trying to get out of cube form, but it also depends on where you've each aimed your cannons; you may be too far away to take advantage of a lucky countdown.
The graphics aren't that great for the Gamecube, but it does it's job. The individual designs for parts and robos also exhibit some surprising detail, which counteracts the occasionally jarring color schemes. However, most of the robos' detailing is lost once you enter the battle arena simply because of the camera's height (which does allow you to see the entire playing field at once). Holosseum arenas use minimal amounts of detail. The use of neon color palettes doesn't outweigh the bland textures. On a brighter note, the particle effects system is robust and impressive, as are the lighting effects, and the framerate is always tip-top.
The sound isn't as impressive either, more for the music though. The problem with the music is that it can get very repetitive during the course of the game, because you will hear some of the same tracks over and over again. Some tracks are decent, but a lot are forgettable. The sound effects used in the game are also just as forgetting and very generic sounding. It's really the weakest part of the game but isn't terrible.
The game is fun, has depth and a decent amount of modes to keep you entertained. However, a harder difficulty in the story as you progress, more varied things to do in the story, better tech for graphics, more varied and great music and better sounds would help this game a lot. The flaws in this game keeps it from being very special. But the amount of good things to do in the game will keep you busy for a while while it lasts. I say give this one a go if your into customizing Robos and playing the multiplayer.
Final score: 7.5/10