Making a game can be an expensive process. There's design, programming, marketing, scripting and a million other costs to consider. So it's good to see Metal Arms: The Pointless Subtitle economising by re-using a Disney script. You'll know the type, it's one of those 'The Search For Princess Toy-Bambi' quest-for-friend vomit stories, as the amnesiac Glitch tries to work out who he is, while being pursued by the evil Colonel Corrosive and his Mils.

Metal Arms isn't half bad, mind beyond the generic plot. Crossing platforming with FPS, it ends up being a slightly dull version of Halo. Glitch himself is a cobbled together midget-droid. One controller moves him, the other looks, and the shoulder buttons fire and throw grenades. The normal FPS weapon selection is adapted from workmen's tools, so the sniper rifle is a rivet gun, the pistol is a mining laser, and so on. As you progress, you pick up other upgrades and extra multiplayer levels, but too much repetition makes it hard to keep going.

Even the multiplayer has a Halo feel, yet the battles aren't exactly frantic as the maps are a little large for two players. Some levels enable you to use the single-player mode's 'control tether' device, so you can capture and take charge of Mils, adding a Quake Team Arena style 'bot vs 'bot element. But, while all this is enjoyable, it never really rises above the average. So, good for the kids, if a robo-mite tricky.

Graphics 70%
Glitch's environs are well varied, if robo-drab.

Sound 80%
Some worthy industrial electronica (arf!)

Gameplay 70%
Not riveting, but not (s)crap either

Lifespan 90%
It's huge, with multiplayer mode to boot!

Overall 70%
A PS2 Halo, for kids. And robophiles. Slow to start but turns over nicely when warmed up.