Smash TV may have done it first, but this Arcade actionfest does it better. Taking violent shoot-’em-up play to the sports arena, Monday Night Combat offers cash prizes, fame, and a corporate sponsorship in exchange for bullets and unceasing chaos.

The game features two flavors of third-person combat: Blitz and Crossfire. Whether you’re solo or with friends, Blitz pits you against a stream of various coin-spewing bots intent on destroying your precious Moneyball. Your job is to defend the Moneyball as one of six classes, each with unique abilities and skills. The standard assault class, for instance, has a perfect balance of offense and defense on top of bombs, a jetpack, and a powerful charge for knocking robots clear off the level. Each time you die, you can respawn as a different class, from the melee-happy assassin to the weak-bodied but deadly sniper. Of course, each death costs valuable time as you scramble to defend the Moneyball. And with bots consistently spilling out of multiple doors, every second counts, making Blitz as challenging as it is addictive.

Between snatching coins from bot shrapnel and using each spare cent to upgrade your own abilities, build turrets, and set traps, you have zero time to waste. But as lovably crazy as Blitz gets, it hardly compares to Crossfire, the six-on-six multiplayer mode. Not only do you have your own Moneyball and unending waves of rampaging bots to worry about, but a squad of six lethal opponents wants your blood every bit as much as you want theirs. This human component ramps up the difficulty nicely; better yet, it means tougher targets for your killing pleasure. During each Crossfire match, you have 15 minutes to escort your automated bots across the multi-level arena so they can lower the shields on the opposing team’s Moneyball. Only when the shields are down can you and your teammates chip away at the Moneyball’s armor.

With a bigger team, bot-on-bot action, and human combatants, Crossfire almost makes Blitz look like a cakewalk. The main downside is that there isn’t more: not only is Crossfire the game’s sole PvP mode, but it sports just four randomly chosen arenas. And the rank you gain for each match you play gives you little more than bragging rights. But even with the lack of variety, Monday Night Combat’s two modes pack enough juice to make it our new favorite sport.

On Xbox Live Arcade

+ Great third-person shooter with Monday-night-football flair.

+ Six varied classes feel different and offer distinct thrills.

- Only two similar gameplay modes and four arenas; little customization.

? Why can't actual sports be this entertaining?

9.0