There are three things in life that I just can't get enough of: beautiful women, fast cars, and giant robots with enough weapons to level city blocks. So far, the Xbox has had a couple of great giant robot games in Phantom Crash and Mech Assault (and for those with enormous bank balances...Steel Battalion). These titles all received quite a bit of attention from fans and press alike, be it for their giant controllers, Xbox Live compatibility or flashy graphics. Strangely however, there is one mech title that flew right under most people's giant robot detecting radars, and that game is Battle Engine Aquila.

Perhaps it is the odd name that put people off, but unlike most arthouse movies, the title actually does bear relevance to the content. You are Hawk, a rebellious young lad who spends his time illegally racing cargo haulers, which is probably about as thrilling as it sounds. Yet his abilities at handling these vehicles makes him the perfect choice for piloting the new prototype Battle Engine, that is after all the trained pilots are conveniently killed off by a traitor as the game begins. This Battle Engine is codenamed Aquila, so hopefully that explains away the odd title.

In this modern day, it is not enough to simply be a giant robot however, the world needs more, and Aquila delivers by not only being a giant robot but converting into a giant jet as well, which adds a whole new element to the mix, and you'd better believe it's a crucial one too, as you'll be flying about madly trying to attack and defend five different places at once.

It is this aspect that truly makes BEA shine from other mech titles, for rather than facing off against others like you, Aquila is by far the largest unit in the field in most missions, and can easily turn the tide of battle against overwhelming odds, it's just a matter of choosing where to be and when to be there. The battles will rage on around you and continue even if you jet off to another area, and the canny radar display overlays the map in red and blue, and adjusts to reflect which faction is gaining or losing territory.

The action plays out in a first person perspective view of Aquila's cockpit, and the view is pretty spectacular. Lush green plains and high tree covered mountains, as well as sandy beaches and sparkling oceans which reflect the sun on their ripples. BEA takes place on a series of islands, so the scenery is mostly this tropical-temperate island climate which would have been a whole lot more repetitive if it wasn't so eye-catching, and if you weren't constantly distracted by events taking place around you. At any given time there can be around a hundred units in the field: tanks, infantry, jets, carriers, battleships, you name it, along with a variety of buildings which can be blown apart piece by piece similar to MechAssault. The models don't have a particularly high polygon count, but they do the job fine and it is a testament to the game's engine that it barely stutters during even the most intense firefights. This is nearly as true for multiplayer, but during larger, explosion-heavy battles the actions begins to grind to a painful halt.

The audio in the game is of an equally high standard, and fully supports Dolby 5.1 with 256 sound channels. Plenty of booming explosions and futuristic weapon effects crash around you and enhance the feeling of being in the middle of total war, and while the voice acting is great quality, the dialogue itself is a little hammy but fits the game pretty well. The music is suitably epic for the title, classical operatic tunes blended with some techno elements, and it really adds to the effect during the large battles, but is not the kind of soundtrack you'll find yourself humming days later.

One of the few problems in the BEA is the controls for the Aquila itself. They aren't terrible by any stretch, however turning the mech around is a slow process, and when you're being shot at from a few directions it can be a real exercise in frustration managing to get a bead on your foes. The only saving grace here is the fact that Aquila has a number of excellent evasive manoeuvres such as sidestepping and reversing direction on the ground, and breaking missile locks and barrel rolling in the air. The downside to this is that none of these life-saving measures are mentioned in the manual, just explained briefly in the tutorial, so if you're one of those gamers who skips through the basic training bits it could be worth your time to pay a bit more attention.

What distinguishes Battle Engine Aquila is the branching mission structure in its campaign. Before you get too excited, it isn't the type where victory or defeat will change the course of the campaign, rather that by achieving certain ranks or objectives, it opens up a tougher "Evo” mission, which is just like the original mission only harder. There is however, without giving too much away, one point where you will have to pick between the lesser of two evils in the mission, and your decision will reflect on the direction the next few missions you take. It isn't quite the open-ended campaign design many of us lust after, but it is a step in the right direction. Your objectives usually involve quite a lot of blowing everything in sight to pieces, but there are a variety of escort and survival missions thrown into the mix. While these are for the most part great fun, they can get a tad repetitive, and there are a few missions which are extremely difficult. To further complicate the matter, some of the secondary objectives are insanely hard to pull off, which will frustrate those looking to open all the Evolution missions or achieve S or A rankings.

The biggest disappointment is that the game lacks a skirmish mode for single players, which would have given the game infinite replayability for those playing alone. The mode exists in multiplayer, and is one of the highlights of the game as it is so fast paced but at the same time strategic...do you charge into enemy territory to destroy your opponent's recharging pad, launch a sneak attack on his vehicle producing factories, or simply wait and prepare to defend your own base? While far from being an actual real-time strategy title, this element certainly shows how an arcade RTS could work on Xbox. Without a single-player skirmish mode though, the game is a little lacking in replayability.

However, the game has a plethora of unlockable goodies, and it is clear that Lost Toys have put a lot of love into the game, as these bonuses include incredibly detailed schematics of the vehicles, character bios, pages of beautiful concept sketches and artwork, along with novel but very tricky Aquila racing games. If you are one of those people who love striving to unlock things, you'll love BEA and its system of primary & secondary objectives which reflect on your mission ranking.

As suggested, multiplayer is great fun with a friend, and includes the aforementioned Skirmish, a versus mode (mech on mech, mano-a-mano), and a co-op mode which is terrific fun too, but the ability to co-op through the entire campaign would have been a crowning touch.

One final thing...I had a few people ask me a few questions about how to open the locked multiplayer maps and beat the tricky race challenge I mentioned, so I went straight to the top and asked Lost Toy's very own Jeremy Longley, the Project Manager for BEA. He had the following to say about the locked multiplayer maps:

"To unlock the other multiplayer maps you just need to finish the game on either tier (ie complete 7.41 or 8.00) - you can actually use the cheat to unlock all the main levels and finish 7.41 pretty quickly (when you work out how to do it!) - 8.00 is somewhat harder ;)

To be fair, though, the extra multiplayer maps are just much harder versions of the original levels - but twice the number of units significantly changes the gameplay and the level of teamwork required in the cooperative levels."

And for those of you struggling to beat the bonus Race Challenge maps :

"As to the race levels - there are actually 5! Although you need to beat each in turn to unlock the next one. Can't remember off hand what times you need, but a very useful tip is - fly low! The closer to the ground/water you go (don't hit it!) the faster you go. Something to do with 'ground effect' ;) Makes a big difference - I'm pretty sure you can't do the last couple without using that trick."

Thanks alot to Jeremy for answering our questions!