Spare Parts: EA’s downloadable beat-em-up for the robotic

Back at E3, EA announced Spare Parts, a cooperative downloadable title coming to PSN and Xbox Live Arcade later this year for $10. Nothing outrageous, it’s a beat-em-up that stars a couple of cute robots who have come upon a space ship and discover that if they collect enough parts, it’s theirs to keep. Strong narrative it does not have, it’s enough of a plot for the robots to journey off and collect some supplies. They’ll fight some spider monkeys more spider than simian, take on some aliens, and solve some puzzles. That’s about it.

So I suspect the question you have about this title is what is special about Spare Parts that makes it better than many of the co-op brawlers already on the market? Well, to be honest, not that much. I mean, it’s a ten dollar beat-em-up, and all EA Bright Lights has to do is make sure that the title does a few hours of mindless brawling well. And it looks like it does that. The two robots, Mar-T and Chip, have basic punches and kicks, as well as junk-trowing abilities. These can be switched up with the addition of magnetic boots, or stronger arm parts, or hover boots, and these can be used in combat as well as for simple puzzles.

One thing that is definitely fun is some of the co-op moves that can be done. When both players jump at the same time, they’ll high five, granting both ‘bots a health boost. It’s nothing exactly groundbreaking, but it’s cute and fun, and indicates that this is a game that is better played with a friend. With both online and offline play, the options are certainly there for a couple of people to spend an evening working through the game. If Spare Parts particularly amazing? Nope, but that’s ok. It’s a simple beat-em-up and that’s all it needs to be. Keep an eye out for it when it comes out later this year.