War Robots

What could be cooler than giant robots? Trick question: there's nothing more awesome than giant mechs duking it out in bombastic battles, and that's precisely the kind of entertainment that War Robots provides. This arena shooter might not be one of the most balanced multiplayer games available, but it tries to make up for it with its addictive and highly responsive gameplay.

While some of the monetary practices in War Robots might be a cause of concern for some players, there's no denying that the core aspects of the gameplay are rock-solid. It's only a matter of how much the player is willing to bet against paying competitors – only then do the concerns of the P2W practices become painfully evident.

Mech Supremacy

War Robots plays like a simplified version of MechWarrior, with each player choosing a robot they own to participate in arena-style battles. The game focuses on PvP over everything else, so don't expect to find some complex lore or an engaging storyline here, though.

What you'll find, however, is a game that takes great pride in its freedom to let the player customize virtually every aspect of their mech. It's not as nuanced as something like Armored Core yet, but every part you put in your mech could be the difference between victory and defeat.

Collect Them All

As always in this type of game, collecting robots and their respective parts is an essential part of the gameplay loop. However, unlike something like Custom Robo, mechs here cost real money to purchase. That's where the cracks in the War Robots formula begin to show.

Each time a new battle robot is introduced into the game, the whole balance of the game's meta changes in favor of the newcomer. The only problem is that paying players then have the clear upper hand compared to P2W gamers – a balance that any self-respecting freemium game tries to avoid at all costs.

As long as you aren't bothered by the prospect of losing a few battles until the new robot gets nerfed, then you'll actually have a great time playing War Robots.

Industrial Designs

One area where War Robots truly excels is in its visuals. While the graphics overall might not be all that impressive – this is a port of a mobile game, after all – the design of the mechs and their weapons has that distinct industrial vibe seen in the MechWarrior and Armored Core series.

You won't be seeing any stylish Gundams here, though, so Japanese mecha fans might be a bit disappointed by the ultra-realistic, Hawken-inspired mechs on display in War Robots.

Environments and arenas are very well designed. You'll find that navigating the large arenas is fairly easy to do, allowing you to concentrate on your shooting.

Pros

• Good visuals
• Lots of robots and weapons to collect
• Fast-paced multiplayer action

Cons

• Balance issues
• Terrible pay-to-win tactics