GBAtemp game of the week- week #6, Robocalypse

[FAST6191]

GBAtemp game of the week- week #6 Robocalypse

It is week #6 of the GBAtemp book game club and although it has been going on for a little while now for those just appearing every week we set a game to play and then discuss it. If it runs on a console we normally cover then it is fair game; it might be homebrew, it might be a commercial game everybody has heard of, it might be something few people have heard of and while we aim to make it fun if there is a game with an interesting mechanic or story that we feel deserves to be looked at then we will cover that as well.[/p]

A quick link before we kick off the current week with a link to last week's thread

 GBAtemp game of the week, week #5

Robocalypse (USA)

A couple of weeks back we covered Secret Files: Tunguska in which we mentioned that the adventure/point and click genre although initially anticipated to make a return on the DS failed to gain that many examples of the genre. Although not so much hope was placed on the DS for the real time strategy genre it was one of the first consoles to feature a control method that lent itself to RTS titles in quite some time (many have tried to use a control pad for such things but they have fallen short) and the GBA (and early days of the DS) had already seen several ports/remakes of Amiga and DOS era games during which RTS had something of a heyday. We have since seen several turn based strategy games that stand as examples of the genre on any platform let alone the handhelds but real time strategy does not have so many examples and many of those have, quite rightly, been forgotten.
This game is more about small units and their effective management rather than huge armies and is noted for the nice artwork, humour, gameplay and so forth (the creator of the game was one of the writes for the early series of Spongebob Squarepants and his cowriter was also involved in several Nickelodeon shows). Surprisingly the game never got released outside North America and we have since seen a wiiware followup and a port to IOS[/p]

GBAtemp release thread

Gameplay advert

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPxPazuOhfo[/youtube]​

Were developers/publishers correct in eschewing RTS games on the DS or does this demonstrate that as a foolish mindset? What did you like about the game? Would it have been better on another platform? Have we just pointed you at a new staple of your collection?.
Join the discussion in this thread[/p]

 Discuss

http://gbatemp.net/index.php?app=core&module=search&do=search&search_tags=gbagotw&search_app= should get you other links in this series

 

[Fel]

I remember seeing this ad long time ago, but I've never tried the game because so little gameplay was shown that I thought it was going to be boring. Though now I'm having second thoughts, it looks actually good! I did enjoy Lock's Quest, so I may like this one as well.

 

[Schlupi]

I never gave this a shot, will definitely try it now. Looks pretty damn good.

 

[lemmymet]

I going to try out now, looks good!

 

[Hadrian]

An excellent game that deserves more success than it got. The WiiWare Robocalypse was pretty good too but nothing compared to this one.

 

[GeekyGuy]

I tried on several different occasions to get into this game, but I think maybe it was being left-handed that made me quickly give up each time. I could see it was a good game -- I mean, perhaps the closest thing to Warcraft I'd seen on DS -- but I still had issues microing. I might have to give the game one last college try.

 

[Deleted User]

Wow, I totally missed this, maybe because I don't usually play RTS games. Sound nice (and crazy) judging from the advert and description. I may have to give it a try someday.

 

[Odnetnin46]

I finished the game before.It's pretty good,but the one thing that kind of kills it for replayability is that you can't go back and play any of the stages again(all that happens if you try to play your complete save file is the ending cutscene.Stupid decision on the dev's part.Who wants a save file that can only play a cutscene?).This was a BIG bummer for me,as I would have liked to try some of the other 'bots more(the last one you get you only get for two or so stages,and he's kinda useless because he's at level 1 and by then you need WAY more leveling up than that).

 

[ferofax]

loved this game a lot. the flag/rally point command system takes some getting used to (as you're never directly controlling the robots, but just guiding them to rally points, except for Hero units), but it's effective enough for me. games are usually fast, especially with tight maps, and power struggles are often. it's easy to dominate, only to get your resources taken from under your nose, bringing you back to re-taking them. low unit caps, which makes defending expansive territories hard (it's better to turtle up), units are upgradeable/level up, and there are Hero units too (and i like how they work).

my only real gripe with this is the odd number of maximum players--three, i believe. and no wifi. with no one to play with, it won't take long before the skirmish maps bore you.

 

[celeron53]

Wow... the trailer for the game is soooo corny and lame.

 

[KingBlank]

Me and my freinds tryed the multiplayer, its pretty cool and there are lots of hero robot guys you can make but there arent many buildings which dissapointed me

 

[ferofax]

the trailer (and in-game cutscenes) aren't what you'd call top-notch, but have a go at the game play. it's quite fun, and because of the rally points, there's less micromanagement and more focus on your hero units.

 

[Veho]

I played it and loved it. Even wrote a kinda/sorta review discussion thread thingy, so I'll just copy paste it here.

I've finished Robocalypse. :yayds: It's great. It's a neat little mini-RTS, that takes a little getting used to, but when you do, it's tons of fun.

And by "getting used to" I mean "learning to play", because Robocalypse is a new game with its own rules. People get horribly frustrated by it when it refuses to behave like Warcraft.

Here are some tips and tricks.

The map is divided into several sectors or areas, defined by control points. Robots won't go into enemy or neutral areas unless you order them to. However. The area around a control point you control is "yours", and your robots will wander around it aimlessly and attack everything they see, and more often than not get themselves killed. They call it "patrolling", the little idiots. In order to stop them, you should place "defend" flags around your base.

Each "defend" flag will "attract" 3 assault robots and one medic. If you have 4 assault robots free, one of them will wander off. Similarly, the normal action flag will issue a command to three of your robots (at random) and one medic, if they are available (i.e. if they're not defending anything, and if you have that many).

"Defend" flags are the best way to control your robots. Action flags will make them go somewhere, and then waddle off after reaching the destination. Also, faster robots won't wait for the slower ones, and pathfinding is rocket science for those guys. Expect half of them to get lost, and expect the weakest units to arrive there first and get slaughtered. The best way to get your robots somewhere is to capture the control point in that area, place several "defend" flags where you want your guys to go (you can only place defend flags in your areas, but if you manage to get a cloaked spy into the enemy base, you can capture their control point and presto, it's your territory, with the option of "defending" it), and then remove the old defend flags. Small steps, though, move the defend flags bit by bit. You literally have to hold them by the hand and nudge them along.

Defend flags won't be removed by the "clear all" button, you have to remove them manually, one by one. Remember where you placed them.

Builder robots will want to repair stuff. It has a higher priority than resource gathering. Once any of your buildings is attacked, one will rush over to repair it, even if it's on the other side of the map. Especially if it's on the other side of the map. Sometimes it's actually wise to destroy your own building manually to make the eager little idiots go back to resource gathering.

Okay, those are the "quirks", "rules", or as people who don't have the patience/instruction booklet to figure them out would call them, "bugs", of the game. Any other weird things the robots do or omit to do are the actual bugs.

One more thing. The "upgrades" researched in the Mechanic Workshop and the Supply Depot really have an effect on the game, and aren't for cosmetic purposes only.


Back to my thoughts. The story is wacky, it begins by jumping the shark and then jumps several more sharks, some more assorted sealife, and a row of at least thirty homeless people along the way. The animations are really not good, they're done with three very immovable sprites altogether (plus lots of zooming and panning), and the self-referential 4th-wall-be-damned humour might start to pall after a while. Which, incidentally, is entirely unlike the characters and jokes you find in the gameplay. The robot and building sprites are well done, the terrains look good, lots of details (the "post-apocalyptic" terrain really looks "Fallout 1-2 post-apocalyptic"), and the robots spouting silly banter ("You can't shoot a guy with glasses", medic-bots shouting "Geneva convention" when being shot at, or the morale-boosting battlecry, "Florence Nightingale") are just adorable. It almost seems like the entire gameplay (art and text included) was made entirely independently of the cutscenes, and the game "story" was added later on as an afterthought.

Not adding the option of replaying finished levels is just plain idiotic.

All in all, I think the game is lots of fun (once you figure out what to do), and I hope it becomes a success large enough to make other developers start making more RTSes.

Can you even say RTSes? How do you pluralize an acronym?

Never mind.




Thoughts?

 

[Redhorse]

This game ranks as one of my top 25 favorite games on the DS.

My first posting on the game of the week.. (great concept BTW)

I agree though, it should have had multiplayer... I would really like to see a follow up on this game or even the same thing done with a variety of character types. ie Robocalypse meets Advance Wars?!?!?! or Fire EMblem? just think about the potential there...

Regarding multiplayer....thats why I got it on my Ipod also, because that DOES have wifi multi.. and the controls, once gotten used to are almost as good but many will probably disagree with my opinion about the ipod controls...

This ranks, for me, up there with PvZombies, Locks Quest, Worms 2; Armageddon and other similar, simple but brilliant and yet fun games on the DS.

I think what I liked best about the DS is that it made possible games that would never have come to pass on any other platform by nature of its control system. Long live the Dsi.

For those trying it for the first time, if you get frustrated at first, put it down for a day and come back to it, it really is worth the try.

 

[shakirmoledina]

i think the closest on the ds to this game is lego battles (i meant have got the game wrong)
aoe was the biggest hope to be a RTS tht would rock but i guess we should hope it comes out correctly this time on the 3ds or a similar game of aoe cat

 

[gamefan5]

The gameplay looks interesting.

 

[dtp30]

I`m not sure if i should say i actually bought this game. I don't think it was released here.. So i imported it from the UK. To me it is a RTS.. But a very basic one at that. It's setup more for the kids. RTS or Turn Based Strategy are the 2 most lacking genres on the DS (Or most hand helds). I`m hoping with the 3DS this might change as Ghost Recon : Shadow Wars is turn based. It was the sole reason i bought my 3DS.

D.

PS. "Command and Destroy" (Not released here eigher) is another RTS that i bought for the DS. It`s alot harder though. People might want to give it a look too.