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Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto.

Xbox Live Arcade Wednesdays typically signify the release of a downloadable coin-op classic for Xbox 360 owners. While it's always nice to take a stroll down memory lane and replay golden oldies like Mortal Kombat, Pac-Man, and Joust, once in awhile we'd like to try something new for a change. Original titles like Wik: Fable of Souls, Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved, and Cloning Clyde have demonstrated that there is a measurable demand for unique games produced by independent development teams. RoboBlitz, the first XBLA title to come out of California-based Naked Sky Entertainment, is the most recent--and most ambitious--game to hit Microsoft's network. Though it's a bit pricier than the typical casual fare, it's arguably the best and most ambitious indie title yet that's worth every bit of its 1200-point ($15 USD) price tag.



The premise behind this lighthearted sci-fi romp is simple: you play as Blitz--a quirky bucket of nuts and bolts roaming aboard a floating "space gun" that's under attack. Using your wits, some basic weapons and abilities, and the power of physics, you must defend the flying battle station from the NOEDs, an evil race of spherical robots bent on your destruction. But before you can unleash fury upon the boss Mega NOED, you need to get the weapon systems online. That means grinding up metal for ammunition, getting the power generators working, getting the communication systems online, and so on. While there is plenty of combat to be had in RoboBlitz, a good portion of the game is spent solving a wide variety of physics-based puzzles.

Just what does "physics-based" mean? Since the game uses the Unreal Engine 3, it not only sports some stunning visuals (that fit neatly into a paltry 50 MB download, by the way) but also features real world representations of an object's weight and mass. As you roll Blitz through 19 fantastic environments inside the space station, you'll have the ability to pick up objects, toss them into your opponents, string them together with a funky tractor beam, set traps, catapult yourself through the air, levitate, and more. Plan your moves right and you can set off spectacular chain reactions of destruction. Really, you're only limited by your own creativity as to what you can accomplish with the wide array of tools at your disposal.



With all this supposed freedom at your disposal, you'd think that RoboBlitz would be a walk in the park. That's not really true. Some of the seven boss battles are pretty tough. While you can beat the game without purchasing any upgrades (like the Suck Mortar, fireworks-inspired Rocket Launcher, movement upgrades, or extra armor) beating each of the NOEDs is a bit of a challenge. In typical platformer fashion, a boss is felled by exploiting its weakness three separate times.