Robonauts - Switch Review

Robonauts is adorable, and it is a nice slice of basic arcade fun. However, despite its oodles of charm (and the introduction is indeed very charming), there are some flaws here that hold the game back. It is a good time, but Robonauts has some rough edges as well.

The intro with our quirky robot is one of the more entertaining I have seen in some time. It is simple, charming, and it brought a smile to my face. In retrospect, the introductory movie has a lot in common with the game of Robonauts itself. The gist of the story is that our intrepid little bot usually finds himself cleaning a ridiculously large station, but finds a suit - a suit that essentially gets shot out of the station and into space as it crash lands on a planet. Everything from our little guy's expressive blue eyes to his WALL-E type aesthetic appealed to me out of the box.

Robonauts also benefits from being a very easy game to pick up and play. Essentially it is a platformer, wrapped around a variety of planets. So while you are running, jumping and shooting, it all takes place on a spherical surface, which is kind of cool if not completely unique. An extra layer of strategy comes into your little droid's secondary jump, which essentially sees him letting go of where he is at and 'falling' (sometimes upwards) to a nearby planet. Rest assured, your little bot's cat-like reflexes place him on his feet. This takes a little getting used to, and just visually kind of reminded me of the Angry Birds Star Wars game for some reason.

There are a couple of levels of difficulty, and they are kind of a mixed bag. The easiest is well... easier by and large, but I think the devs went a bit too far in adding a sort of auto-aim. Your shots try to track the nearest opponent, which can get a little weird when you want to shoot at someone in front of you, but there's a dude hanging out on a planet above you that is technically closer, forcing you to shift your aim. You can go harder, which doesn't do this, but good lordy those later levels can be pretty brutal. A happy medium would have been more life / resistance or weaker enemies to blow up, but the auto aiming is not my favorite feature.

Visually, Robonauts is appealing at a glance. It sports bright, vibrant colors and it has a fun, cartoon-like style that is easy on the eyes at first. However, the more time you spend with it, the more different plants just look like mixes of new colors, animations are simple and visual variety is really rather limited. To its credit however, the game runs at a buttery smooth framerate, even when playing in two player split-screen - which is frankly when the game is at its best. There is a versus option and a cooperative, and both are pretty fun. Definitely more entertaining with a friend.

While the graphics are nothing to write home about, I actually enjoyed the music quite a bit. It is catchy, fits with the action and best of all just memorable. Sound effects get the job done - a little repetitive, but in truth that is probably the game's biggest flaw. While it is an easy title to pick up and play, Robonauts is a relatively shallow game that does not offer any sort of truly meaningful progression or character building. It is more of an old school arcade style of play, and while that can be fun, it never really blossoms into anything special along the way. The end result is a shooter that can grow pretty repetitive as you spend more and more time with the title.

Robonauts has a pretty adorable protagonist and a fun if simple visual style that is ably supported by a fantastic soundtrack. The core gameplay is simple but challenging, though aside from picking up some temporary weapons power-ups, the gameplay itself never really develops into anything particularly unique or special. The game itself is still good fun, and worth a play at its price point, but Robonauts is kind of an old soul with arcade sensibilities that are entertaining if sometimes a little redundant.

Game Information

Platform:
Switch
Developer(s):
QubicGames
Publisher(s):
QubicGames
Genre(s):
Action
Platforming
Mode(s):
Single Player
Coop
Versus
Other Platform(s):
PlayStation 4

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Nick