Gotcha Force

GameZone

Has to be the most underrated, overlooked game of the year. Ever since Power Stone died with the Dreamcast, there hasn’t really been an entertaining 3D four-person melee fighting game. Gotcha Force takes the Power Stone-type genre to the next level.

Nintendophiles

Fans of "Power Stone" or "Smash Brothers" should especially be interested in the frantic battle action Gotcha Force has to offer.

NintendoWorldReport

This is a big, deep game that does justice to the glory days of playing with Go-Bots and Transformers, while incorporating all the collecting madness of Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh.

netjak

But the fact is, I’ve never seen the concept handled so well. Despite the fact that you can’t tune an individual Borg (like you could do in Custom Robo), you can build such a dizzying array of different lineups that this game has so much more playability than almost any other Gamecube action game.

GameShark

The combat is both intuitive and fast enough that you can easily sit down and play a quick game any time.

Computer and Video Games

The battles are frantic and over quick enough to make it perfect to dip in and out of, and the multiplayer battling is wicked fun with mates.

Game Informer

While Gotca Force offers several play modes, including Story and Versus, the basic gameplay never changes. [Jan 2004, p.138]

Yahoo! Games

As a single-player quest to gather robots and unlock secrets, Gotcha Force can get a little tedious. As a game to make you scream at your friends, however, it's perfect.

Nintendojo

It's cute, it's exhilarating, and it's an extremely good alternative to the failed Pokemon Channel. Is it worth the casual gamer's dollar? Probably not.

Nintendo Power

Fun, but repetitive. [Feb 2004, p.68]

GameCube Europe

It’s really a shame they couldn’t think of a way to keep the battles interesting for a longer time, the lack of variation really kills the game.

IGN

What really hurts it is that the game never progresses beyond the simple battles. I never felt challenged -- and after playing through the story mode for an hour, I felt like I had seen all there was to see.

GameSpy

Too linear to be challenging for expert gamers, and with a learning curve that dips into boredom exponentially the longer you play it, this is a perfect rental for your ADD-riddled nephew -- and him only.

Play Magazine

Gotcha Force's neat concept didn't follow through in its execution. [Feb 2004, p.46]

Electronic Gaming Monthly

The arena-based combat is banal, combos are almost accidental, the dialogue consists of goo goos and gah gahs, and the difficulty curve seems designed to boost a baby's confidence. Overall, it's an all right little game, provided you're still in Pampers.

GameSpot

A pale, perfunctory imitation of both that crutches itself far too heavily on brainless, clunky, spastic action that doesn't so much entertain as it bewilders.

GameNow

While Gotcha Force definitely has visual punch and lets you lay the smack down on foes with your customized robot attack squad, it's a little on the bland side.

Gamezilla!

Distractingly strange, with clunky controls, mixed up graphics and a story line that is just plain out confusing.

Cheat Code Central

Few kids possess the capacity required to make sense of this scrambled, onscreen action in real time. It will just frustrate all those that play it except the odd MENSA member.

Gamenikki

It's very rare when a title comes along that needs a STAY AWAY warning. Gotcha Force is that title.

GamerFeed

The story mode is so razor thin and pointless I didn't know who the enemy was, and after breezing through most of the game, to have the last decisive battle be beyond difficult (because of the controls) made the game very unbalanced.

Edge Magazine

Gotcha Force has all the requisite cute and vibrant stylings of another Japanese phenomenon, but it's let down by a pallid game dynamic. [Jan 2004, p.99]

Game Revolution

The robot design and collection aspects are pretty good, but it isn’t worth much when you’re just pounding buttons like an idiot. Mindless gameplay coupled with camera problems and not much else leads to a game you definitely don’t need to get.

Gaming Age

The main problem with Gotcha Force is that the game is tailored to children. The controls are simple, the battles are extremely easy, and the customization elements only extend to putting different groups of Borgs together. There’s not enough depth to interest adults or perhaps even teens.