Real Steel (XBLA): "A Highly Customizable Robot Boxing Game ..."

If you are as old as I am you have probably seen the "Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots" toys of ages (years ^.^) gone by. The concept was really simple back then, and only involved a couple of movable plastic robots that were attached to a plastic boxing ring. It was inevitable that the release of a movie/video game such as "Real Steel" would sooner, or later rear it's head. With the lack of inspiration that seems to be plaguing the hollywood directors of today, and the classic toy/movie craze (Smurfs, Transformers ...) that is currently going on it all sort of adds up. Yuke's Co., Ltd is the developer behind this video game rendition of the recent movie release. Unlike the movie "Real Steel" there is nothing going on behind the stage involving the human puppet masters (Hugh Jackman ...) that control the brawling bots. The game itself is pretty much a straightforward boxing game with some nice additions (RPG elements, customizations, robotic dismemberments ...) to gameplay that suit the scifi content the game was molded after.

Gameplay in 'Real Steel' is a lot like other boxing video games with some significant tweaks to the content. In the game you have light, and heavy punches for both arms/fists of your robot. The variations in the punches are simply controlled by the direction you push (Left Thumbstick) along with the punch buttons (X/Y = Light, A/B = Heavy). There are also more powerful moves that can be performed by combining the punch buttons with the (Right Bumper). The game includes quite a few customizations that can be applied to your robot, and it's special moves are among those options. You can assign up to four special moves to corresponding punch buttons (X, Y, A, B) in order to give variation to your personal offense style. Aside from the moves you can also buy new/improved parts for your robot that add new fighting styles, and physical appearances to it. How well you design your robot, and the moves you buy will greatly effect the outcome of each match.

Real Steel is full of customization options, but for the most part you will have to spend some major money/microsoft points in order to make anything really impressive in the game. You can change the different features of your robot (fists, arms, legs, core, body, head) as you earn money from matches, and you can even unlock more parts as your robot's stats level up. Naming your own robot is also a viable option in this game which adds a nice personal touch to the creation experience. Some of you may be curious as to if the game censors out naughty words, but I'm not for sure? I know that some games censor what you name things, but I'm clueless as to how that is applied to this game. I ended up naming my own robot "Rusty Bits" after thinking about it a good 10 minutes, and it seemed to do well despite the suggestive nature of the name (^.^). As far as DLC goes you can purchase some pretty impressive custom parts, and the ability to actually paint your robot (which isn't included in the core game).

There are a nice selection of game modes to experience in 'Real Steel'. You have a singleplayer ladder style mode in which you advance in underground fighting tiers by moving your way up to the top rank through matches with AI opponents/robots. The game also features two types of Multiplayer modes (Local, Xbox LIVE). I was unable to try out the local part due to the lack of an extra controller/player, but I definitely tried out the LIVE version in which I got my arse totally handed to me within a matter of seconds. Live/online multiplayer has the options to fight in a ranked, or player match as well as the option to create your own match. I do suggest that you level up significantly before you attempting to play online/LIVE, because the gamers that are playing were very experienced/powerful. Learning the to utilize the controls properly will also help you out majorly in your matches.

In the end 'Real Steel' didn't offer a solid gaming experience. Instead of giving gamers the customizations that should have rightfully been included with the core release (such as paints/colors ...) a majority of the in-game items are set as DLC. This makes the game seem more like a money making gimmick to me. I know that's probably harsh, but it's the truth. You usually only see this kind of DLC content in mmorpgs (That are practically begging the player for money). It was a huge disappointment to say the least. I really didn't like the fact that I could not color my own robot without having special DLC for it. The gameplay was alright to me, but it's not enough when the game's main features are the multiple customization options. I have to say this game is definitely not worthy of a purchase. If Yuke's Co., Ltd. is somehow able to give buyers of the game the customization DLC for free then I would say it's worth it, but until/if that ever happens it is not.