Smite Steampunk Cyborgs In Rubber Bandito

Rubber Bandito ($2.99) by Cold Dish uses an amazing “slingshot anywhere” method for controlling the main character.

Bandito is a simple shaman who is slung into a world of adventure when steampunk cyborgs from the Imperial Trade Syndicate threaten his people. The Spirit of the Wolf empowers Bandito, granting him an amazing slingshot-like power.

While the story is engaging, unfortunately there’s no hint of it in the game. A cutscene at the beginning provides a hint that Bandito’s village is burning, but the lack of text leaves its meaning ambiguous. You’re literally thrown into the action, needing to kill people without really knowing who they are or why you need to stop them.

However, at its face value, this is still a fun game. Unlike Angry Birds, which uses a fixed slingshot, this game allows you to swipe anywhere on the screen.

SImply pull back from where Bandito stands and the Spirit of the Wolf will show as a strength indicator. Let go and watch Bandito spin and slash to destroy his enemies. Just like in Ninja Sprint, he’ll automatically swipe at and kill the baddies. This means the slingshot is the only control to worry about.

Slinging can also be used to double-jump and wall-jump, which adds some quick thinking and problem solving into the mix of gameplay.

Gather small suns to increase your health. Larger suns are available as well, though will often sit in hard-to-obtain places. At first the steampunk cyborgs pose little threat, so it’s only when you enter the second world that you need to be more careful about them. This is especially so when they fire gattling guns and mortars at Bandito.

The goal is to find the key at the end of the level to unlock moving on to the next of the five worlds.

Overall, this is a fun game that makes great use of the ability to slingshot anywhere. Adding more cutscenes or other ways to relate the story to the player would help give the game more depth. At the rather steep price of $2.99, you would expect a little bit more.