Cyberbots: Fullmetal Madness is interesting. It's quite unique from the other fighting games of the time, mechanically and aesthetically. I had never heard of it before the Capcom Fighting Collection came out, but I was instantly intrigued by it because I love cool robots. However, when I finally got my hands on it, I sort of came away feeling unimpressed. After beating the game with every pilot and mech, I can finally put into words why that is.
Gameplay:
Cyberbots is a fighting game where you duke it out with giant mechs. There's a lot of mechs to choose from with their own arm parts, leg parts, and secondary weapons. The kinds of attacks you can perform can get pretty interesting because of this. That's kind of where my compliments for the gameplay end though. Cyberbots is simple to a fault. There's two attack buttons, a button for your secondary weapon, and a boost button. The presence of only two real attacks buttons feels extremely limiting. You can get a lot out of those two buttons, but it makes things get boring in the long run. This is definitely not a game you want to play right after a round of Street Fighter or Darkstalkers. As for the other abilities, the boost makes for a nice way to close the gap between you and your opponent, and it can even sometimes combo into attacks. The secondary weapon on the other hand can be seriously, and quite literally, hit or miss. The weapons range from very useful, like the missile launcher, to painfully worthless, like the little gun that shoots tiny projectiles. Aiming the weapons is difficult too, as the directions they go in can feel random at times. Everytime I think I start to understand the weapons, I send a rocket right into the floor. All of this combines to make a gameplay experience that just isn't that great. Getting through arcade mode can feel like a real slog, and I find myself getting bored by the fourth or fifth match. It doesn't help that the CPU is absolutely ruthless when it comes to blocking attacks. The latter matches in the arcade mode can feel downright miserable.
Story and Characters:
Though I found the gameplay to be less than stellar, there was one thing that kept me going, and it was the story. Before you pick your mech, you can pick from six pilots. Your pilot has no real effect on gameplay, but it does determine the story you'll be playing through. Each storyline contains a series of battles, at first motivated by each characters own goals but eventually building up to a battle against a superweapon in space. Though each story isn't too different, I still found myself being intrigued by them, as every battle has its own mini cutscene inbetween. Every character also has their own ending with unique illustrations. It can sort of feel like you're playing a movie at times (emphasis on "sort of" as it's nothing actually that crazy). I came away from this game really liking the pilots, and that says a lot for a group of characters you spend most of your time seeing in the corner of your screen. The worldbuilding also deserves a mention as there's quite a lot of it throughout the game.
Sound and Visuals:
Though I can't remember any tracks off the top of my head, I remember the music being pretty cool. It reminded me a lot of Mega Man X (no idea if it was the same composer or not... I should probably look that up). As for the sound design, I'd say it's good overall. My only big issue is that sounds of successful hits and sounds of hits being blocked could be a bit unclear. The end-of-round announcements also got grating fast, though that could just be a me problem.
The visuals are half the reason I wanted to write this review, as I have some interesting feelings about them. Overall, they're pretty darn good. The character designs are super awesome with my favorites being Gwaine's and Santana's. The backgrounds are amazingly dynamic. I really loved the stages that took place in more familiar environments, as they put tbe scale of the mechs into perspective. The other stages, like the ones taking place in space, didn't wow me nearly as much, but they're still solid. As for the mechs themselves, I have mixed opinions. On one hand, they are wonderfully detailed with awesome variety and neat animations. On the other, I don't really feel like they make for good fighting game characters. Clarity is important in character design, especially in fighting games, and these mechs just don't have that. Details can easily get lost in shuffle, and it can be legitimately hard at times to tell what state the mechs are in at a glance. That combined with the sometimes busy backgrounds can turn this game into a sensory overload.
Conclusion:
Despite its ups and downs, I'd say that Cyberbots is worth checking out. It's an okay fighting game at the end of the day. Its uniqueness alone makes it worth playing for at least a little while. Sadly, its lack of complexity means a lack of staying power, and I doubt I'll be returning to it now that I've seen all it has to offer.
Gameplay:
Cyberbots is a fighting game where you duke it out with giant mechs. There's a lot of mechs to choose from with their own arm parts, leg parts, and secondary weapons. The kinds of attacks you can perform can get pretty interesting because of this. That's kind of where my compliments for the gameplay end though. Cyberbots is simple to a fault. There's two attack buttons, a button for your secondary weapon, and a boost button. The presence of only two real attacks buttons feels extremely limiting. You can get a lot out of those two buttons, but it makes things get boring in the long run. This is definitely not a game you want to play right after a round of Street Fighter or Darkstalkers. As for the other abilities, the boost makes for a nice way to close the gap between you and your opponent, and it can even sometimes combo into attacks. The secondary weapon on the other hand can be seriously, and quite literally, hit or miss. The weapons range from very useful, like the missile launcher, to painfully worthless, like the little gun that shoots tiny projectiles. Aiming the weapons is difficult too, as the directions they go in can feel random at times. Everytime I think I start to understand the weapons, I send a rocket right into the floor. All of this combines to make a gameplay experience that just isn't that great. Getting through arcade mode can feel like a real slog, and I find myself getting bored by the fourth or fifth match. It doesn't help that the CPU is absolutely ruthless when it comes to blocking attacks. The latter matches in the arcade mode can feel downright miserable.
Story and Characters:
Though I found the gameplay to be less than stellar, there was one thing that kept me going, and it was the story. Before you pick your mech, you can pick from six pilots. Your pilot has no real effect on gameplay, but it does determine the story you'll be playing through. Each storyline contains a series of battles, at first motivated by each characters own goals but eventually building up to a battle against a superweapon in space. Though each story isn't too different, I still found myself being intrigued by them, as every battle has its own mini cutscene inbetween. Every character also has their own ending with unique illustrations. It can sort of feel like you're playing a movie at times (emphasis on "sort of" as it's nothing actually that crazy). I came away from this game really liking the pilots, and that says a lot for a group of characters you spend most of your time seeing in the corner of your screen. The worldbuilding also deserves a mention as there's quite a lot of it throughout the game.
Sound and Visuals:
Though I can't remember any tracks off the top of my head, I remember the music being pretty cool. It reminded me a lot of Mega Man X (no idea if it was the same composer or not... I should probably look that up). As for the sound design, I'd say it's good overall. My only big issue is that sounds of successful hits and sounds of hits being blocked could be a bit unclear. The end-of-round announcements also got grating fast, though that could just be a me problem.
The visuals are half the reason I wanted to write this review, as I have some interesting feelings about them. Overall, they're pretty darn good. The character designs are super awesome with my favorites being Gwaine's and Santana's. The backgrounds are amazingly dynamic. I really loved the stages that took place in more familiar environments, as they put tbe scale of the mechs into perspective. The other stages, like the ones taking place in space, didn't wow me nearly as much, but they're still solid. As for the mechs themselves, I have mixed opinions. On one hand, they are wonderfully detailed with awesome variety and neat animations. On the other, I don't really feel like they make for good fighting game characters. Clarity is important in character design, especially in fighting games, and these mechs just don't have that. Details can easily get lost in shuffle, and it can be legitimately hard at times to tell what state the mechs are in at a glance. That combined with the sometimes busy backgrounds can turn this game into a sensory overload.
Conclusion:
Despite its ups and downs, I'd say that Cyberbots is worth checking out. It's an okay fighting game at the end of the day. Its uniqueness alone makes it worth playing for at least a little while. Sadly, its lack of complexity means a lack of staying power, and I doubt I'll be returning to it now that I've seen all it has to offer.