Spinbot Battles Review

Spinbot Battles is a shining example of why, no matter what, fighting robots are awesome. There are several issues that occasionally threaten to make one forget that fact. On the whole though, while playing this game the objective awesomeness of fighting robots remains true.

The title is a bit misleading as direct robot confrontation is strongly discouraged. Instead, players will spend most of their time tilting their phone to steer their Spinbot away from opponents and near trap switches. Spinbots are fragile things and while they are capable of fighting head to head, if the player wants to survive as many waves as possible the key is to lead the enemies into the arena's traps. There is only one arena to fight in and that, along with the music, can make the game feel repetitive. At least there are plenty of traps though. Turrets, acid, missiles and even electrical grids can be used to take down hostile Spinbots or even the player's own if they are not careful. However, the tilt controls do not feel as responsive as they should be and too often the player can only guide their combatant in the vague, general direction they want them to go. This means battles tend to devolve into players going around in a loop, with enemies chasing them, hoping that they activate a trap at an opportune moment.

This also plays into the game’s pacing issues. By surviving more enemy waves players earn fame and credits to upgrade their Spinbot with things like extra armor and buzzsaws. However, players are forced to fight through way too many waves before they can earn enough credit to do anything substantial. This tedious grinding only makes the flaws of the battle system that much more apparent as the player is subjected to it over and over. If one invests enough effort into getting around the controls though, the gameplay can pay off. Skillfully baiting the enemies into the various traps can be quite the satisfying experience. Also, because health slowly regenerates, once players do start upgrading their Spinbots, head-on collisions become a fun, viable strategy. Visually speaking, while the Spinbots themselves do not have much personality the large arena they fight in is colorful and sharply drawn. The weapon sounds effects have a nice pop to them as well.

Spinbot Battles is not as tight or exciting as a robot action game probably should be. Still, give it a chance and it may prove to be as rewarding as all games should strive to be.