Giant fighting robots.

In an ideal world that would be the end of the review and the game would go on to be the most downloaded game on the internet by the end of the hour. This being reality, I'll go into why you should be as psyched about this game as I am.

Giant robots! There's a good selection of robots to pilot and most of them are based on models from the many Gundam anime series with their names changed to spoof operating systems. Each robot has 3 special attacks on top of the standard and melee attack. The attacks vary to make each model unique. The Whistler Type-B uses missile attacks exclusively, the Black Selena has attacks that involve moving and flipping around for a very aerobatic fighter, and the Blackcomb functions on the principle of "LASERS EVERYWHERE". They even have 2 grunt units in the roster because there has to be a swarm of minions for the super powered ace pilots to massacre before taking on each other.

With mech geared up and ready to unleash destruction, there's three different play modes to try. Standard survival mode pits you against 2 enemies who switch robots as you destroy them, and you have to see how many you can take out before you run out of lives. Team mode puts you on one side of a conflict between two huge teams of robots and which ever team is left standing is the winner. And then there's "Blitz tactics" mode, which is very similar to team mode, but with a twist. Not only are two huge teams duking it out, but now there's a number of flying battle ships floating over the fight, shooting lasers in all directions. The goal is to take out the opposing team's ships before they take out yours. It gives this mode a different sense of scale from the other modes, and it's refreshing.

Unfortunately, the epic team modes are a single player experience only. There is network multiplayer, but it is limited to 10 players across 3 teams. Still, even on this scale the action is exciting enough to make for a great experience. That is, if the online play wasn't plagued by lag and connection issues. Being on a LAN helps, but you really have to want this action to go through the trouble.

The game is also somewhat system intensive. So many 3d models and special effects going off all around can cause some grinding slowdowns. Running the game on the lowest graphics settings doesn't really take much away, and should give enough boost to bring it back up to speed.

As a neat extra feature, it is very easy to add custom pilot packs that you select in addition to your robot. Each pilot pack is a picture of the pilot that pops up on the HUD when you target them, the flavor of text that heralds kills, deaths, respawns, and attacks, and even voices that play along with the text! They are very easy to make too, which is good if you can't find one you like among the myriad that are available on fan sites.

Even with the minor issues and the disappointing offering of only 4 stages (only 1 for the team modes), Windom Bootfighter XP SP-2 still holds up as really fun. The action is well paced, varies with the robots in play, and is always visually appealing. Simply put, this is the must have freeware game for fans of giant robots.