CHING

One of the more unusual things we spotted at E3 this year was a new toys to life game that combines huge articulated toy robots, tens of clip-on weapons and a iOS shooter experience with deep RPG strategy. It sounds like a car crash but in practice it was a dream to play.

Infinite Arms looked strangely familiar though, and it wasn't until returning from the California sunshine that it became clear what that similarity was: Elite Beat Agents.

The CEO of developer Jumo was the director for Elite Beat Agents and its Japanese counterpart Ouendan. As you can see in the game-play video shown below, the robots in Infinite Arms bear more than a passing resemblance to stylised characters in that classic DS rhythm action game.

The game itself is coming to tablets later in the year and promises a more hardcore experience than other toys to life titles. Like amiibo, the toy connects directly to the game without the need for a separate portal or toy pad peripheral that Lego Dimensions and Skylanders both use. It seems like the Wii U could be an ideal console to bring the game to if Jumo wanted to expand beyond the initial tablet audience, but that of course remains to be seen.