Robot Arena 2: Design and Destroy

Last updated
Robot Arena 2: Design and Destroy
Robot Arena 2 Coverart.png
Developer(s) Gabriel Entertainment
Publisher(s) Infogrames
Series Robot Arena
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows
ReleaseFebruary 18, 2003 [1]
Genre(s) Robot combat, Action
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer

Robot Arena 2: Design and Destroy is a robot combat action video game developed by Gabriel Entertainment and published by Infogrames. It is the sequel to Robot Arena, in the Robot Arena videogame series. Compared to its predecessor, it has many new features, such as the Havok physics engine and fully 3-D environments.

Contents

The player has the ability to completely design their own robot, including chassis design, weapon placement, mechanics and paint. Weapons are nearly completely customizable, including weapons that mount on various attachments, such as poles, disks, and tribars.

Although not well received from a marketing standpoint, this game has a dedicated fanbase and a community that, As of 2024, is still active today. [2]

Gameplay

Robot Arena 2: Design and Destroy is an Action game. The player controls a radio-controlled robot which battles it out with other robots in order to win. Ways to win a battle include destroying the opponent's control board, immobilizing the opponent (such as flipping them over), having the most points at the end or in some cases eliminating them by pushing them into pits.

Different types of arenas are available to play, either being a standard map, a tabletop map, or a "king of the hill" map.

Different game types are available in single player, where either the player can play against 1 opponent, 3 others in a Battle Royale, or a 2v2 team-based match.

The main game mode is League mode where the player competes against fifteen other teams in nine events. The winner is the team with the most points at the end of the season.

Multiplayer is also available, where up to four players can pit their designs against their opponents. Online play was also supported which was facilitated by GameSpy.

There is also an exhibition mode, where you can place any of your bots against any computer bot in the game in a match, with settings controlling time limit, match type & arena, and if the hazards are active.

Reception

The game received very positive reviews from critics and fans alike, and is widely considered the best robot combat video game ever released, better even than the officially licensed Robot Wars games. The graphics were decent for its time, while the physics were much more realistic than the ones seen in the Robot Wars games. As of 2019, the game retains a cult following online, most notably on GameTechMods, which hosts frequent tournaments.

GameSpy gave it 77 out of 100 writing "A pleasant surprise. Whether you're going head-to-head against formidable AI bots or human opponents, it has plenty to offer both newcomers and bot-bashing aficionados alike". [3]

Sequel

A sequel, Robot Arena III, was released on 26 May 2016 on Steam. [4] [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deathmatch (video games)</span> Video game mode

Deathmatch, also known as free-for-all, is a gameplay mode integrated into many shooter games, including first-person shooter (FPS), and real-time strategy (RTS) video games, where the goal is to kill the other players' characters as many times as possible. The deathmatch may end on a frag limit or a time limit, and the winner is the player that accumulated the greatest number of frags.

<i>Unreal Tournament 2004</i> 2004 first-person shooter video game

Unreal Tournament 2004 is a first-person arena shooter video game developed by Epic Games and Digital Extremes. Part of the Unreal franchise, it is the third game in the Unreal Tournament series and the updated version of Unreal Tournament 2003.

<i>Sonic Battle</i> 2003 video game

Sonic Battle is a 2003 fighting video game developed by Sonic Team for the Game Boy Advance. It is the second fighting game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, the first game being Sonic the Fighters. It was released in Japan in December 2003 and in North America and Europe in early 2004. The game received a lukewarm response from critics.

Soldat is a 2D multiplayer video game for Microsoft Windows. It is a run and gun game influenced by Liero and Scorched Earth, combined with elements from Counter-Strike and Worms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robot combat</span> Type of robot competition

Robot combat is a type of robot competition in which custom-built machines fight using various methods to incapacitate each other. The machines have generally been remote-controlled vehicles rather than autonomous robots.

<i>Team Fortress 2</i> 2007 video game

Team Fortress 2 (TF2) is a 2007 multiplayer first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve Corporation. It is the sequel to the 1996 Team Fortress mod for Quake and its 1999 remake, Team Fortress Classic. The game was released in October 2007 as part of The Orange Box for Microsoft Windows and the Xbox 360, and ported to the PlayStation 3 in December 2007. It was released as a standalone game for Windows in April 2008, and updated to support macOS in June 2010 and Linux in February 2013. It is distributed online through Valve's digital retailer Steam, with Electronic Arts managing retail and console editions.

<i>Armored Core: Formula Front</i> 2004 video game

Armored Core: Formula Front is a mecha video game developed by FromSoftware and published by Agetec. It was a launch title for the PlayStation Portable in Japan, the 10th main installment in the Armored Core series.

Robot Arena is an action video game series focused on robot building and fighting. It is based on television shows such as Robot Wars and Battlebots. There are three games in the series, Robot Arena released in 2001, Robot Arena 2: Design and Destroy released in 2003, and Robot Arena 3 released in 2016.

<i>BattleBots: Beyond the BattleBox</i> 2002 video game

BattleBots: Beyond the BattleBox is a video game based on the BattleBots license for the Game Boy Advance. It was developed by Cave+Barn Studios and Pipe Dream Interactive and was published by Majesco Entertainment. Players create and manage a team of BattleBots.

<i>Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad</i> 2011 video game

Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad and Rising Storm GOTY, now known as Rising Storm/Red Orchestra 2 GOTY on Steam, is a tactical multiplayer first-person shooter video game set during World War II, developed and published by Tripwire Interactive. It is a sequel to Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45. The title focuses heavily on the Battle of Stalingrad and the Pacific Theater. The game was released in September 2011. The game is currently a Windows exclusive and contains many new features compared to the original, including a new first-person cover system, which can also be combined with blind firing, first person collision detection, Commander role and abilities as well as an entirely new system of statistics tracking and player levelling. Maps are much bigger and had immediate 64-player support.

<i>Monday Night Combat</i> 2010 video game

Monday Night Combat is a downloadable third-person shooter video game developed by Uber Entertainment. It was published by Microsoft Studios on the Xbox 360 and by Uber Entertainment and Valve for Microsoft Windows. It was released on August 11, 2010 on the Xbox 360 as part of Microsoft's 2010 Xbox Live Summer of Arcade and is distributed through Xbox Live Arcade. It was released on January 24, 2011 for Windows via Steam.

<i>Interstellar Marines</i> 2013 video game

Interstellar Marines is a science fiction first-person shooter video game being developed by indie studio Zero Point Software. It was added to Steam Greenlight on September 3, 2012 and later released on Steam Early Access on July 2, 2013.

<i>Blacklight: Retribution</i> 2012 video game

Blacklight: Retribution is a free-to-play first-person shooter video game developed and published by Hardsuit Labs for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 4. It was initially published by Perfect World Entertainment on April 3, 2012, with a full Steam release on July 3. A PS4 version was released as a launch title in North America on November 15, 2013, followed by Europe and Australia on December 4.

<i>Super Monday Night Combat</i> 2012 video game

Super Monday Night Combat was a free-to-play multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game developed and published by Uber Entertainment for Microsoft Windows. The game is the sequel to Monday Night Combat. It was released on April 18, 2012. The game was inspired by Defense of the Ancients, a custom map and modification for Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos.

<i>AirMech</i> 2014 video game

AirMech is a free-to-play multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Carbon Games for Windows, with Android and VR version in the works. Originally released onto Steam's early access program in November 2012 as the game was fully released in March 2018 under the name AirMech Strike, and additionally released a version on the Xbox 360, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 under the name AirMech Arena.

<i>Robot Wars: Advanced Destruction</i> 2001 video game

Robot Wars: Advanced Destruction is the third video game based on the British game show Robot Wars. It was the third of four games based on the show, with the first three selling over 250,000 copies. It was developed by Crawfish Interactive and published by BBC Multimedia and was released exclusively for the Game Boy Advance in 2001. It was also released in the US by Vivendi Universal Games. The game is based on Series 4 of Robot Wars.

<i>Guns and Robots</i> 2014 video game

Guns and Robots is a cartoon-style online shooter developed by Masthead Studios for Microsoft Windows. The focus on the game is construction of gunfighters and team-based gameplay.

Robocraft is an online vehicular combat game developed and published by Freejam Games. The game is set on different planets, with players constructing robots to fight with and against others in battle. The game features contained garage bays in which players can build various functional vehicles with basic block-based parts, such as cubes and wheels, along with weapons that can be used for combat. The initial alpha build was released in March 2013, and gained over 300,000 players by the following year. It officially released out of beta on August 24, 2017.

<i>Synthetik: Legion Rising</i> 2018 top-down shooter video game

Synthetik: Legion Rising is a top-down shooter video game with roguelike elements set in an alternate 1980s where humanity is threatened by malicious artificial intelligence. The game was created with Game Maker and was developed by independent studio Flow Fire Games, based in Berlin.

Clone Drone in the Danger Zone is a beat 'em up video game developed and published by Doborog Games. Initially made available as an early access game on Steam in 2017, it was released for macOS, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on July 27, 2021.

References

  1. "Release date". IGN . Retrieved 3 April 2014.
  2. "gametechmods".
  3. Avi "dotmatrixtroubador" Fryman (April 29, 2003). "Robot Arena: Design & Destroy (PC) Review". GameSpy . Archived from the original on April 30, 2003. Retrieved March 9, 2020.
  4. "Robot Arena III on Steam".
  5. Grubb, Jeff (September 26, 2016). "2016 game release-date calendar". venturebeat.com. Retrieved March 15, 2020.