Robot Arena 2: Design & Destroy is probably the best "battle-bot" simulation game you'll ever play.

User Rating: 9 | Robot Arena: Design & Destroy PC
Ever used to watch Battle-Bots or Robot Wars? Remeber how cool it was to see these machines duke it out, metal to metal? Well Robot Arena does a fine job recreating that excitement.

Gameplay
Heres the breakdown: you build bots, test them, and pit them against other bots. RA2 lets you create teams of robots to take part in tournaments against cpu-controlled bots. You are allowed 6 bots per team. Your robots are classified according to their weight (light weight to heavy weight).
There is almost no limit to what kind of bot you can design (as long as you stay within the 800kg weight limit). RA2 will play best to those who are willing to eplore their imagination and creativity (as well as ingenuity). The RA2 bot workshop starts with what is basically the base design of your bot. It can be most shapes you want, given the base is a polygon. The next step is chosing the material (from plastic to steel). After the body is done, you are able to add the actual parts. This is where this game shines. There are probably over 70 parts (not including the variations and different sizes) that you can use. From burst pistons to axes and saws, you will not run out of resources for a while. Connect the parts to gether and set the controls in the ingame remote control and you robot is good to go (privided that a good amount of testing is done; there is a garage for you to test out your bot). You also have the option of painting your bot. You can also export the paint file to edit in an external paint program (Photoshop anyone?).
The combat itself is pretty straight forward. The exact controls aren't defined the same for all bots becuase the controls are what you make them to be. The basic idea is to destroy the other bots, avoiding any arena hazards, and complete any other objectives (such as king of the hill, stay on top of the arena (tabletop)). Much enjoyment to be expected.

Graphics
2003. Not that graphics weren't dazzling back then, but don't expect it to be Crysis. It should look really nice though on the highest settings. Other than that, the graphics are fine and you probably won't really care as the gameplay steals the show.

Sound
RA2 could use some work in this department. The sound effects are okay, but could be less static. There are about a total of 4 songs (you can always ad more, though). The most dissapointing thing is that you dont have the option to fight with music on (again can be easuly worked around be turning the music volume down and playing music with an external player like iTunes). All that put aside, you most likely wont care too much about this at first.

Content
Custimization maximus. This game can be taylored to your liking with a little time and effort. There are also plenty of mods still going around, too. This only makes the game bigger than you would ever think.

Replayability
Let me just say one thing again. 2003. I bought this game 5 years ago when I was in the fifth grade. I still play it to this day. Sure I go on and off, but it still plays as good as it did, maybe even better. This game really does grow on you. There are few games that manage to accomplish that. It takes the right amount of content, unique gameplay, and just a great imagination.

When all is said and done, Robot Arena 2: Design & Destroy is a true PC Classic and should be played at least once by those with a PC that meets the minimum requirements, which aren't that high for today's PC's. RA2 is a solid 9.