Review: Bad Bots

As Sam McRae, last surviving member of the “Titan Hauler” crew, you must hack and blast your way through an onslaught of truly bad ‘bots to find a way to prevent a potential planet-destroying catastrophe. The mystery of what happened to everyone while you were in cryostasis unfolds around you as you wade through the bodies of your fallen shipmates, unloading round after round into your relentless automaton attackers.

Pros:

• Retro graphics with a retro feel to the whole game.
• Full 360 pad support straight out the box.
• Old school platformer/shooter.
• Fast frantic game play that involves you exploring a huge ship and blowing up robots, who have taken over the ship and killed the crew.
• Explosions of robots look great and are really satisfied.
• Many guns and new melee weapons can be found and used.
• The game world is huge and has many many hidden rooms/passages for you to find.
• Despite the looks of the game, The world does feel open world even though its all very scripted.
• Check points/save locations are common and are scattered all over the world.
• Some great sound effects with some epic boss battle music.
• Two game modes: Campaign which is your main story and Challenge mode. Challenge mode is basically a wave based survival mode where you face off against ever increasing robots. Different difficulties can be selected for challenge mode.
• Leader board support and each mode has an ongoing score counter.
• Boss battles offer the best challenge. Every boss has different weak points and tactics, Forcing you to mix things up and keeps it all very entertaining.
• Gameplay in general is a satisfying experience for the most part and old school players will feel at home.
• Does have a great atmosphere.

Cons:

• Controls are awkward, By awkward I mean the devs have stuck to the old school theme. Jump is up on the pad or up on the keyboard. Sounds alright but in game its really annoying after a while. You can only shoot on pre determined angles, so when you have enemies below you you will need to move away so you can get the shot off.
• Screen tearing is a constant event and is really noticeable when you jump or a few enemies are on screen.
• No music in game except for boss battles. It was done for atmosphere but in practice it just feels like the game isn’t finished.
• Despite sign posting all over the walls and ship blue prints on the wall, It is really easy to get lost.
• Game play does get very repetitive and tired by the end of the game.
• Every now and then you will come across a quarantine zone where by you will be swarmed by loads of robots. The problem is the way in which robots swarm you and whilst attacking you melee style, you cannot attack or even jump away. Its infuriating and can really damage your enjoyment.
• Few bugs exist such as enemies stuck in scenery or shooting through walls.
• The game is quite short, Players can have the game clocked in just a few hours.

In summary, Despite its flaws the game is a fun game to play and you will get a few hours fun out of it. The game is getting constant updates so a lot of the issues outlined here could well be fixed by now. Online leader boards would have given it a lot more replay ability. For what you get at the price it is more than justified for the old school player. New players to the genre may find it a repetitive shooter. I enjoyed my time with it even though I had to restart my whole game as I hit a glitch, which turned off all enemies and objectives. The game is best played in short bursts and challenge mode is a good way to get a quick shooter fix.