Bad Bots is a 2D action title currently available for PC via Steam, developed by Point 5 Projects and published through IndiePub. At first glance it looks like a retro-styled Metroid, with the space setting and room to room exploration. But the gameplay is more in line with old school run and gun shooters, minus the difficulty.
You take control of Sam McRae, lone survivor of the Titan Hauler, a space vessel that?s been overrun by murderous robots. Led by a malevolent A.I., the entire crew of the Titan Hauler has been executed, and the A.I. has punched in a crash course towards Earth. Sam, with the help of a single robotic ally, has to wrest control of the ship back from the A.I. while staying alive against hundreds of rampaging bots out to kill him.
As you explore the Titan Hauler, you?ll move from room to room, opening doors, busting through grates, and occasionally uncovering secret passages. There?s no constant on-screen map, occasionally you?ll see one posted on the wall to give you an idea of direction, but not having the luxury of knowing your exact position was another element that I enjoyed. Again this harkens back to old-school game design, and with the setting clearly meant to be oppressive and lonely, it again echoes Metroid well in that regard. Even the sound design is well utilized, with almost zero music present throughout your adventure. This marks smart use of an indie game budget playing up to the design strengths of the actual game.
Tying into controls, aiming is tied into the mouse or right analog stick on a controller. Imagine something like a twin stick shooter, but without all the auto-fire. This isn?t nearly as bad, but Sam won?t automatically face a different direction based on whether you?re moving left or right, so even if you?re not actively aiming at an enemy you?ll need to move the mouse or left analog to make him turn around. This becomes annoying when jumping or navigating the occasional hazard, and there are a couple light platforming sequences in the game where this set-up becomes overly frustrating.
The occasional boss fights do provide a nice alternative, with an end boss that ends up being the only major challenge you?ll encounter here. But the boss fights are too few and far between, and don?t make enough of an impact to detract from the rest of the combat that I have issues with. It?s a shame too, because the first half of the game is more about enemy placement and line of sight, forcing you to leave the safety of cover in order to pop a few shots at a robot with ranged weapons on the far end of a room. You?ll quickly learn that it?s not entirely necessary to be so cautious though, once you realize that very little damage is done when you?re hit, and health picks are in abundance just like ammo. But that cat and mouse nature of combat early on is still fun while it lasts.
So I?m pretty lukewarm on Bad Bots. It?s certainly not awful, and when it calls back to the retro style of the classics that preceded it I think it does a better job than most. But the combat design coupled with the clunky control interface really brings the experience down. There?s also not enough post-game content or reason to revisit the campaign after you?re finished, and with the light non-adjustable difficulty setting, you?ll blow through the game in a single sitting without anything particularly memorable to call back on. It might be worth checking out in an eventual bundle or sale, but it?s certainly not something I?d highly recommend.
There's a few dozen titles set to take advantage of the pricey new PS5 hardware…
Bubble Bobble, Rainbow Islands, Cadash, Rastan Saga, Champion Wrestler, Dead Connection and more are coming…
Virballs promises Ratchet and Clank meets Kirby. But can it deliver that?
Learn the sad tale of the second generation Grimm’s Nikke in the game’s 2nd anniversary…
Atari takes on Mattel's Intellivision in the next drop of content heading to this unique…
This website uses cookies.