Mekabolt+ review for PS5/4, Xbox Series X/One

Platform: PS5
Also on: Xbox One, Xbox Series X
Publisher: Ratalaika Games
Developer: Somepx
Medium: Digital
Players: 1
Online: No
ESRB: E10+

Even though I played the original Mekabolt only two and a half years ago, I have to be honest: I don?t remember it all that well. Little things like a global pandemic and massive, completely unrelated personal upheavals mean that September 2019 feels like much, much longer ago.

Mind you, even without all that personal disruption, I still don?t think I?d remember much about the game. As I wrote back then, it?s a pretty forgettable platformer that doesn?t have much in the way of memorable moments or gameplay. And seeing as nothing in Mekabolt+ rings a bell, I?d say that description has been borne out pretty well.

In fact, I?m struck by how much I wrote then also applies to Mekabolt+. I mean, it should, since it?s basically the same game, but it says a lot that, even with all that?s happened since September 2019, I still experienced the game in the exact same way. It may have a little more content than the base game, but not so much that it justifies its existence. Mekabolt+ is still a solidly unspectacular platformer where you turn robots on and off while dodging environmental hazards to get through fairly short levels. The only difference ? the ?+” in Mekabolt+, if you will ? is that this time around there are a few puzzle levels, which differ from the regular game only in that the robots aren?t as aggressively hostile, and you move them around.

But much like the first Mekabolt, there?s nothing here that hasn?t been done before, and better, and in a more interesting way. It?s fine if you?re after an easy Platinum (though it takes a tiny bit longer with those extra levels, and it costs a few dollars more), but there?s not much other reason to play it.

Ratalaika Games provided us with a Mekabolt+ PS5 code for review purposes.

Grade: B-