Synaptic Drive is the official spiritual successor to Custom Robo by creator Kouji Kenjou’s studio Thousand Games. It plays and feels similar to the grand titles of old, but misses the mark in many ways.
The series that began by developer NOISE on the Nintendo 64 in 1999 hasn’t seen a new core entry under the original brand name since Custom Robo Arena on the Nintendo DS in 2007. Of the lineup, the best title up until this point has been Battle Revolution, released for the GameCube back in 2004.
Fast forward to now, and Synaptic Drive quietly debuts on the Nintendo eShop and Steam storefronts.
After a sadly brief plot exposure using mere text, the game provides a tutorial highlighting the basics of robo battles for new and returning players. In terms of combat and setups, most of what fans know and love from Custom Robo is there. You run around, jump, air dash, and shoot without blocking.
Arenas are small and confined areas providing tons of opportunities to receive and dish out firepower. The setup is straightforward as it always has been. However, some additional refinements have been added to the customization. Bombs have been replaced with Wires, and you can attach chips to your robo to enhance features like jumping, attack, defense, and more. Guns remain the primary weapon.
You will find yourself spending more time in the customizations and trial battle sequences than you will in actual matches. The more you level up through play, the more parts you will unlock, which will inevitably expand your customization options.
The core gameplay is excellent, offering fast, responsive action and tons of tactical opportunities. What’s more, Synaptic Drive performs well on Switch and PC, letting you feel right at home.
Key issues with this title stem from the lack of flair and soul. The designs of the robos and the arenas are completely uninspired, and the main game modes have you completing challenges in sequence to rank for gold, silver, or bronze.
Multiplayer is clearly the focus of the game, but you’ll find it next to impossible to find others to compete with in the online play, especially if you’ve decided to revisit it later down the line after unlocking all the parts.
When you strip away what could have been a long, meaningful storyline to a few sentences of text and have Robos simply duking it out in various combinations of parts with generic music in lackluster arenas, it really does lay bare what the general series is all about. And while it’s still great, it proves that the time taken to add flavor in previous entries is what made the franchise so memorable to fans.
Fortunately, there is a fan-made spiritual successor to the Custom Robo series on the way made by Yellow Fall Games. It’s called Battlecore Robots, and you can add it to your Steam wishlist right now.
Synaptic Drive is an action role-playing game developed by Thousand Games and initially released in 2020 for Nintendo Switch and PC.