This game is more Looney Tunes than Gundam Wing. Is this a bad thing? Well, yes and no. I’m a huge fan of anime, and especially mecha anime, but there’s almost no point in making the combatants giant robots when they shoot out whirling tornadoes of energy or pink heart streams (though the Sailor Moon reference struck me as hysterical). Whatever cool–appeal giant robots have is diminished by this, leaving us to discuss the game play.

Here’s where the game almost redeems itself — the game play is fast, frenetic, full of options and strategy. There are 12 mechs to choose from, each with its own special weapons, strengths, and weaknesses (and the little Dreamcast units on their backpacks are an amusing touch). Once in the arena, you have to play to your mech’s strengths by zipping around the arena if you select a small, nimble mech, or stand and blast if you pick an armored heavy–hitter. You have to decide what sort of attack is best for the situation, whether it’s a powerful but slow blast that leaves you vulnerable to counterattack, or a quick punch combo at close range that sends your opponent reeling. And you can’t sit back and plan, because if you don’t keep moving, you’ll get cut to pieces within seconds!

And that’s the first of the flaws in this game. The AI is brutally fast. If you aren’t on your toes, you’re gonna get waxed, no doubt about it. Of course, a little practice, and you can manage to hold your own. Unfortunately, the control setup in this game makes that task far more difficult than it should be. For one thing, this game was designed to be used with twin stick controllers, and the standard Dreamcast controller is an extremely poor substitute. The variety of attack options aren’t quite as overwhelming as in a standard fighting game, but they’re still awkward to execute — especially in the heat of battle. Compounding this is the odd three–dimensional freedom of movement. I never thought I’d be complaining about a game that was too freeform, but here I am. In most button–mashing fighting games, you can spend a little time messing with combos, because you’re always facing the enemy. In VOOT, by the time you get the combo right, your enemy has zipped around behind you!

This freedom of movement is also a negative factor because there’s no real autotarget. You can rotate in place, but that takes time. Your enemy rushes around behind you, or to the side, or just ducks behind an obstacle before you can react. Oddly, if you jump in the air, you automatically turn to face the enemy, which not only gives away your position, it reduces your attack options while you’re in the air AND it takes a while to land. It’s as much a curse as it is a blessing. Why this game doesn’t just allow you to lock onto the enemy as you slide around on boosters is a complete and utter mystery to me. Frankly, I don’t like it.

It’s these poor controls and the combination of with repetitive game play that prevented me from liking this game as much as I feel I should have. In Dead or Alive 2, the reversals and timing made each fight fascinating and fresh. In VOOT, if you’ve seen one attack, you’ve pretty much seen it all. This game is pretty much lather, rinse, repeat. If the controls were less annoying, or the robots were less like Ken and Ryu and more like actual robots (like in Armored Core), then I’d have liked this game a whole lot better. However, this game is amusing, and the graphics and sounds are nothing less than fantastic. I wouldn’t recommend buying it, but if you grab a friend and rent it over the weekend, you’ll probably have a blast. If you like giant robots and/or fighting games, you’re almost sure to have a blast.

Just don’t expect even Gundam–level depth here. Of course, if I ever get my hands on a twin stick, that may change — but for right now, I have to express my disappointment with VOOT. But at least the name is still fun to say.