Astro Boy: Omega Factor

According to the boffins in white coats, the first true human versus robot football match is still some 45 years away. Now I'm no football expert, but unless humans also radically evolve over the next half-century we're facing a defeat of catastrophic proportions.

Consider, for a moment, Astro Boy's abilities. He can bring down adversaries ten times his size with a lightning combination of fist and feet. He's got a back-mounted machine gun, a laser-firing finger, and a plasma cannon stashed in his forearm. He can perform special moves for multi-enemy disposal. Oh, and he can fly. Thankfully for us, he's far too busy protecting Metro City from all that is evil to make it to football practice.

Practice is what you'll need to get to grips with controlling the boy robot, but this is so tightly and expertly implemented that you'll soon be unleashing android justice with intuitive ease. Astro Boy's eight main levels effectively alternate between ground-based brawling and high-flying shooting, but each offers novel, unforeseen situations (such as time travel) populated by equally original opponents that both test the GBA's technical ability and keep your progress interesting.

To further increase the appeal factor, the game includes an element of character customisation - for each individual Astro Boy meets (some 50 exist in the game), he is rewarded with a skill point to assign to any one of his abilities (Life, Punch, Laser, Shot, Jets, Sensor). It's a neat twist and introduces a level of strategic depth. Even without it, Astro Boy: Omega Factor would have stood effortlessly on its own two metal feet, but it's a welcome addition nonetheless and one which further strengthens the game's ability to satisfy a far more universal audience than the aficionados of the Astro Boy comic books/cartoons.

You'll find Astro Boy: Omega Factor to be a more challenging experience than most, but just consider it practice for the footie of the future.