If the name American McGee isn’t familiar to you that’s because you probably never played the stellar PC classic American McGee’s Alice - a wonderfully twisted game where Alice returns to Wonderland to assassinate the Queen of Hearts. If you do know the name then you can understand my deep interest in American McGee Presents Scrapland for the Xbox, a game that’s not only interesting but the type of game that shouldn’t, by any means, be ignored if you like a game with a lot of heart and plenty to do.

The center character of Scrapland isn’t human. In fact, he isn’t even a living, breathing creature. You play D-Tritus, a happy-go-lucky robot that just happens to land on Chimera (known as Scrapland by the locals), a world inhabited by hundreds of robots living without humans. A stranger to the world, D-Tritus is quickly drafted into becoming a reporter and finds himself deeply involved in a murder mystery with suspects to his left and right. Soon the robot finds himself uncovering a number clues that leads to the world’s top political figures to the religious Archbishop that controls the Great Database where robots are scanned in order to be resurrected again should they die.

D-Tritus himself quickly finds out that he has a number of abilities that can help him piece together the murder mystery and the fact that you are free to roam about the massive playing world means you have your work cut out for you. This freedom also means you can complete the game’s main objectives at your own leisure and take on side quests and missions. Early in the game you meet a nutty robot that calls himself the Crazy Gambler who issues you challenges he calls Crazy Bets and Super Crazy Bets. Such challenges have you destroying patrolling police robots or racing against cocky pilots throughout the game’s world. You’re rewarded with upgrade parts you can use to upgrade your ship.

Yes, you also get a vehicle in the game since the environments are so huge they do require you to hop on a ship to go from Point A to Point B when you’re asked to meet somebody in other locations. You start off with a weak ship but will gain enough money or parts that you’re able to fly back to Rusty’s Junkyard to upgrade engines, weapons and even the ship’s hull. These upgrades are necessary if you want to win the far more difficult races later on in the game or survive various encounters that have you attempting to shoot down several gunships.

The missions on foot vary as well since you’ll not only have to photograph certain things (much like UbiSoft’s Beyond Good & Evil) but also bash a few robotic heads in with your fists. D-Tritus has his own attack but the game’s best feature has him changing into any robots that just so happen to cross his path. He can become another robot, using said robot’s particular abilities to his advantage. For example, turn into a sneaky Banker robot and you’ll gain that robot’s ability to steal from other robots. Turn into a Functionary droid and you’ll be able to distort time to your advantage. To change back, all D-Tritus has to do is find a specific location where he can change back. You’ll also be chased by the police who can be relentless in their search for you.

Death in Scrapland is not a big deal as well thanks to the Archbishop and the Great Database. D-Tritus is scanned early in the game and is told that if he should die the Great Database restores him back to life ... for a price, of course. This means if you should die in the game, you can be restored as if nothing had happened. Just make sure you have enough money because you’ll die somewhat regularly throughout the game.

You won’t worry about dying, though, because the biggest threat in this game is completing missions. You’ll have plenty of missions to complete and often times you’ll be starting a mission all over again if you so happen to fail an objective, and this is where the game’s weaknesses shows up. Some missions have multiple objectives and you’ll feel somewhat overwhelmed by them. Yet this could have been tolerable had the mission objectives been far more diverse. Oftentimes you’ll feel as though you’re repeating the same mission you passed a few missions ago. Secondly, the flight controls aren’t as smooth as they should be - especially in a game with lots of races. Combat could have been a real pain but the Lock On feature does help out. As for D-Tritus’ fighting abilities, he doesn’t lock on the way he should have, and this results in a lot of missing. 

At least there’s a multiplayer mode, even though the mode is for two players only. The multiplayer modes offer four mode types: DeathMatch, Flag Hunt, One Flag and Race. DeathMatch has you seeking out a friend on a ship with each kill winning you a point. Flag Hunt has you seeking out a flag before your friend does while One Flag has you picking up a single flag and has you flying it over a designated area to win the point. Race has you and a friend racing through the game’s many maps such as the Old Mine or the Shopping Mall. It’s not bad but the game could have been great with up to four or more players.

Visually, Scrapland is actually quite a beautiful-looking game with environments that will have you marveling at its bright and flashy appearance. The world seems alive and watching robots go about their business or the traffic boom on the outside is quite nice to look at when you’re just standing still. The character models are also good to the point that each robot has his or her own personality. D-Tritus himself is a unique-looking robot and it's fun watching him fawn over the shapely Betty. The only problem is that there are a few glitches in the graphics such as pop-ups and some stutter during animations.

As for the game’s sound, the voice acting is well done. You’ll find it hard to dislike D-Tritus’s cheerfulness even when he’s talking about smashing robots into nuts and bolts. The game has plenty of humor and it's thanks to the game’s witty, charming and sometimes awkward dialogue. The sound effects work nicely in the game as well and listening to the clank with each step D-Tritus takes is a nice touch indeed. Even the game’s score is wonderfully cinematic.

Scrapland turns out to be quite a gratifying adventure game with an appealing story, fun characters and a good dose of all the things we like about this genre. Its attempt to blend driving-and-shooting and on-foot action is nice, even though there are a few flaws that hold the game back just a little. Still, don’t let this sway you from experiencing the game. I highly recommend you rent this one.

Gameplay: 7.0
The game throws many interesting concepts but, unfortunately, many of the things that could have made this game a real blast are somewhat hindered by the controls. Ships don’t fly as smoothly as they should, even with the ship upgrades and D-Tritus just can’t hit anything. Thankfully you can change into other robots and use their abilities.

Graphics: 8.0
A few graphical glitches aside, this is a great-looking Xbox game. The massive environments are strikingly gorgeous, and there are plenty of beautiful visual effects throughout the game. Even the characters look good in action or during cutscenes, but there’s the occasional pop-up and stutter.

Sound: 8.2
The game’s score is wonderfully cinematic and the voice acting is actually very enjoyable although occasionally the dialogue goes from charming to just a bit awkward. Still, listening to robots banter and complain about their lives is comedic gold.

Difficulty: Medium
The game piles on the missions and many of them are quite challenging, particularly the races later on in the game. The Crazy Gambler also doesn’t make his Crazy Bets too easy to complete so expect a single bet to contain three or four objectives to complete within each bet. Whew!

Concept: 7.6
Scrapland attempts to mix flight with the kind of third-person action reserved for the Grand Theft Auto crowd, and - for the most part - does a decent job. Turning into other robots is a good idea. There’s a lot of Scrapland to explore on foot or via ship.

Multiplayer: 7.5
The multiplayer mode is strictly a two-player affair with four different game modes that range from your average DeathMatch and Race modes. The action is split-screen and there are plenty of playable maps that will keep gamers more than busy. Too bad there’s no online gameplay; this one could have been fun with up to six or eight players online. 

Overall: 8.0
Far from perfect, Scrapland is still a pleasantly enjoyable romp with great characters and just enough action to make this one worth playing. Had the controls been a bit more responsive for the ship-flying portions and the robot smashing just a tad more smoother, we would have had the perfect robot action game this side of Metal Arms: Glitch in the System.