[quote]Follow my Curator page, [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/41363546-Fruit-N-Doggie-Reviews/]Fruit N Doggie Reviews,[/url] so you can be updated whenever I post a new review.[/quote]
[h1]Overall Rating - Painfully Bad ★☆☆☆☆[/h1]
[h1]First Impressions[/h1]
Honestly, I thought Good Robot (GR) was going to be a platforming game of some sort, perhaps because I could envision the friendly machine helping human beings fend off bad bots. In all likelihood, I was probably thinking of Wall-E. Regardless, not only is it a twin-stick shooter, it's also a roguelike, which isn't my favorite of genres. I don't like having to clear skill checks and “git gud” in order to achieve victory.
[h1]Gameplay[/h1]
Theoretically, the general pattern for this title is fine. At the start of each wave you'll have chosen what obstacles you wanted to face, and can pick up a free barrier. While exploring, you'll work on killing off enemies, trying to avoid any damage, and earning money. By the time you find the end of the zone, you'll see one of two shops; the first selling permanent upgrades for your bot, as the second has weapons available. In addition, the latter also can replenish your shields, and sell a warranty, which I'm guessing acts like a spare life. GR didn't really make it very clear when I saw that option. Unfortunately, I think the game fumbles in important areas, so this cycle isn't all that fun to engage with.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3461964386
[h1]Controls[/h1]
Generally speaking, I didn't have much problems controlling my robot. I'm not positive if his hurt box is 1:1 with his outline, but it seemed to be fairly close. After all, I wasn't scraping past bullets that made contact with my arms or head, yet managed to avoid my central, theoretical hurt box. However, your level of precision shooting your weapons is pretty high, so it can be kind of fickle narrowing your focus for smaller targets. In those situations, I found it easiest to keep my line of fire steady, and move my bot so it started hitting the enemy I was trying to kill.
[h1]Story[/h1]
With minimal text coming from a few sources, such as the hat shop and game over screen, there's little in-game to establish any plot. After looking at the achievements, I wasn't far off the mark with that observation, as that's where you're supposed to glean any story-relevant information. Oddly enough though, the store page outlines the basic idea, but doesn't do so at the beginning of the game. Supposedly, there's also a tutorial somewhere. I double-checked the early areas after starting a new run, and couldn't find anything that explained how the game works. 404 Error.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3460105470
[h1]Visuals[/h1]
Based solely on the dim lighting, I'd assume the setting is meant to be grim, as the only thing being produced are hostile robots, in a world seemingly made of discarded junk. That's not a bad location for a game to take place, so in that sense, I think the world building is fine. Making most of the screen dark is a problem though, because even with bits of neon color, enemy projectiles aren't distinct enough. Spotting them at all should almost make me flinch naturally, with my desire to avoid being tagged by them. To be fair, the red homing missiles do give the impression of an imminent threat. However, all the other projectiles look too muted and dull, and start blending in, especially if both sides are exchanging fire. Nailing such basic visual features is fundamental for any SHMUP, and it feels like the developers blew it.
[h1]Sound Design[/h1]
From what I was able to tell, the music that plays as you progress through waves is selected at random. Unless it pairs up with sub-types based on which symbol you chose, I didn't see a correlation between what enemies or situations were occurring, and the tone or tempo of the music. All of the songs I was paying attention to had a chiptune basis to them. However, as long as you're spamming both of your weapons at almost all times, the projectiles being fired by yourself and the enemies will drown out the music, basically defeating the point of having any at all. The only time I wouldn't do that is if I'm positive there aren't any enemies around, or if I'm close to a wall, and I'd blow myself up with one of my own shots.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3460105791
[h1]Pros[/h1]
🌟 I like the idea of a single-use barrier, as it's a boon to both skilled and reckless players. Knowing you can absorb one shot gives a boost of confidence to play better.
🌟 As long as you remember the way, you can retreat to safe areas. Although if you lure several enemies there, they won't really be safe anymore.
[h1]Cons[/h1]
❌ Buying upgrades increases the cost of all upgrades. I understand raising the price for that specific item, but why make everything else more expensive too? In addition, later waves seemed chintzy about dropping money.
❌ At a certain point, you might want to try avoiding fights, and make a run for the exit. I have no idea why, but one level was especially grueling, and seemingly didn't want to end.
❌ Since your projectiles can change in color, it becomes really difficult distinguishing enemy shots from your own.
[h1]Tips[/h1]
🔍 This is something you could exploit. If you die or choose the next type of wave to challenge, your progress in the run is saved. Exiting out of the game at any other time will reboot your status to the start of that wave, so if you're getting creamed, you can make infinite retries until it goes smoothly.
🔍 As long as your weapon is doing decent damage, the boss battles don't seem to be especially bad. Dodging their flurry of bullets, or killing their drones, is usually viable with all the cover available. They're faster than having to clear most stages.
🔍 Vision isn't incredibly expensive, but buying at least a few upgrades is absolutely worth the investment. Being able to see around you is essential.
[h1]Final Thoughts[/h1]
Having tried GR, I'm left wondering what the point would be in playing it any further. Whatever story there is was almost deliberately hidden, weapons aren't especially fun to use, the upgrade and shop system seems unfair, and the visuals make it a chore to track enemy projectiles. When enemies are able to start replicating or producing endless drones if you don't destroy them quickly enough, all fun factors become irrelevant, because it's such a buzz kill. After a certain point, I have no choice but to run like a chicken, as they become too overwhelming a threat. I had some enjoyment early on, but it only took a few attempts to establish that I have no interest in making numerous runs trying to overcome this roguelike experience. Maybe if you could build an incredibly strong bot I'd play longer, but since you can't, I'm not interested in playing this.
[table]
[tr]
[th]PC Specs[/th]
[th]Performance[/th]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Ryzen 2700
RTX 2070
16GB RAM
ADATA SSD
1920x1080
[/td]
[td]The game ran without incident on default settings.
💖 - GR is healthy
[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]
