Shoot, Jump And Hover To Get Your Robo-Girl Back In Roboto
Roboto ($2.99) by Fenix Fire is an arcade-style game where a powerful little robot seems to be fighting to rejoin his girlfriend who has inexplicably left on a spaceship.
He moves around on a little hoverboard with a weapon equipped to deal with any bad robots he may come across. Most of the time, however, you’ll be jumping over and around obstacles such as moving and stationary platforms and ramps. Press the jump button at just the right time and ramps will give you a big boost in speed.
Holding the jump button allows you to hover, useful for covering larger gaps. You can also press jump repeatedly when against a wall to ride up that wall.
The most unique aspect of this game is the ability to change the direction of gravity so that you’re able to ride along the ceiling instead of the floor. This happens when you come across pulsating vertical purple beams. The game continues as normal except your brain is at risk of getting mixed up causing more crashes.
Jumping and shooting requires energy, represented by the blue energy bar on the top left. This energy bar, however, also serves as your health bar.
If you jump or shoot yourself down to zero energy, you’ll just become less effective. But if an enemy robot shoots you, the damage causes you to lose energy, when that energy drops to zero in a fight, you die. Fortunately, you are able to collect energy refills as you play.
Upon death, if you choose to replay the level, you’ll have to start from the beginning unless you made it through at least half of that level. At the halfway mark of each level you'll see a green bar which represents an auto save point.
There are 30 levels to complete; each successive level is unlocked only when you’ve completed the previous one. The 30 levels are split up into three different regions including Mars City and Space Port.
From the level selection screen, you also have access to the Skate Park which has a shop that allows you to spend the gold coins collected during play. The shop allows your board to be upgraded giving you more armor. There are also additional weapons to purchase such as a laser, shotgun or bazooka.
Controls are smooth and fluid, though it is very easy for your fingers to come off of them. I like the speed and acceleration, but getting the robot to change direction suddenly can be a bit difficult with a slightly slow response time.
Roboto is a fun little app and should provide hours of entertainment.
