After a rough start, the Xbox Live Arcade is finally hitting its stride as a viable gaming platform. With classics like Street Fighter 2 and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 lining out a strong back catalog of arcade titles of yore as well as strong originals like Small Arms and Heavy Weapon, Xbox Live Arcade is providing great content on demand every week. Now, RoboBlitz hits the Xbox Live Arcade, presenting an impressive technical feat for the platform.

Utilizing the Unreal Engine 3 for great lighting effects and textures, RoboBlitz looks great, even amazing considering the 50 MB limit on Xbox Live Arcade games. However, the gameplay will leave something to be desired, as the puzzles become way too easy and the experience as a whole is very short-lived. However, if you’d like to download something that looks great (even though it may not really play that way) then definitely check out RoboBlitz.

RoboBlitz puts you in control of Blitz, a robot onboard of a spaceship that has come under attack by an invading group of nasty little robots. You must fight enemies and solve puzzles in order to repair six sections of the ship. These puzzles range in style and form, and some of them use the physics engine (which proves to be the most fun).

The game has about 20 different short stages, and the overall experience shouldn’t take you very long to complete. Not only that, but the puzzles are all pretty thin, and will feel pretty easy once you hit your stride and start to get into the game. It can safely be assumed that RoboBlitz was created to be more of a graphical showcase than an actual fleshed out action-puzzler.

The main draw for RoboBlitz is the impressive visuals. The game uses Unreal Engine 3, an extremely powerful graphics engine seen famously in games like Gears of War and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas. The robot models look really good and are rife with detailed textures, and the lighting effects look great. The environments do look a bit drab and repetitive, but even that is a minor gripe compared to the overall look of the game, which is great. Considering that the entire game has been crammed into 50 MB, this is a great testament to the strengths of the Unreal Engine 3, as it can create excellent visuals without taking up a ton of space.

The game’s sound effects aren’t quite as good as the graphics. The soundtrack is a real strange ambient track that seemingly goes on forever, and the sound effects can get pretty grating with the constant metal clanging sounds.

RoboBlitz is a great piece of eye candy if you’re looking for a cheaper way to show off what your Xbox 360 can do. While the gameplay is a little thin and it’s ultimate value is debatable (at 1200 Microsoft Points, the game costs quite a bit more than most other Xbox Live Arcade titles), RoboBlitz is still a great looking title for the graphics hound.

Gameplay: 7.0
The game is an action game with some basic puzzles thrown into the mix. Once you figure out the mechanics of the puzzles, the rest of them become a piece of cake. The game is over very soon, and ends up a little too short and too easy for its own good.

Graphics: 8.5
RoboBlitz definitely benefits from Epic’s Unreal Engine 3, with great looking textures, character models and lighting effects. While the environments can look a little uninspired at times, all in all RoboBlitz is a great looking game made all the more impressive considering that it’s a 50 MB download.

Sound: 6.0
The ambient soundtrack sounds a bit floaty and doesn’t really seem to fit in with the rest of the game. Also, the clangy metal-on-metal sound effects get pretty grating as they wear on.

Difficulty: Easy

Concept: 7.5
The game is an impressive showcase of what the Xbox Live Arcade is capable of technically, but the mediocre gameplay elements leave a bit to be desired.

Overall: 7.5
Considering the 50 MB limit posed by Microsoft on all Xbox Live Arcade games, RoboBlitz’s great Unreal Engine 3 powered graphics are made all the more extraordinary. If only the gameplay were up to the same snuff.