Shoot Many Robots published by Ubisoft, is an awesome side-scrolling shoot-‘em-up that is hopefully the first of many original titles from Demiurge Studios. It comes available as a digital download from the Xbox Live Arcade, Playstation Network and on PC. I myself played it on my 360 so experiences I had may differ from other formats.
The story follows one of many theories that people have had about how the world will end, in this case as the name of the game suggests there has been a robot uprising, and our once mechanical friends are now out for human blood. So if you like blowing up robots and lots of them, which I’m pretty sure we all do then this game is for you. The hero of the game who has been clever enough to plan for this Robocalypse by stock-piling his motorhome with guns, ammo, and beer is P. Walter Tugnut (the ‘P’ stands for Pickles, but don’t call him that to his face). He is an endearing hillbilly who has known this day will come and stands as humanity’s last hope against the robot menace.
The enemy comes in many forms, from the tiny chainsaw-wielding Choppers to the high flying Hummers that hover above your head firing rockets. Then you have the bigger and badder robots like the gigantic fire-spewing Fatboy or the menacing Gasbag who covers the sky with his heat seeking rockets and drops his robot spawning friend Six Pack onto the battlefield when you least expect it. There are so many robots to shoot and it never gets boring, because to make sure they keep it fresh the game introduces multiple models of each robot, each getting increasingly fierce as the difficulty ramps up.
Characters aside this game offers much more than your typical side-scrolling shoot-‘em-up as it tries to evolve on the basics and introduces a levelling-up mechanism into the game. The more robots you kill, the more XP you get and the quicker you’ll level up. The higher your level the stronger you become and the better the weapons you can buy from the store accessed in your RV headquarters, using the nuts you collect from the remains of dead robots. But it’s not only weapons you can unlock; there are items of clothing as well, some with a unique ability. Some pants will enhance your slide ability; others may allow you to carry extra beer, with your tops you can get jetpacks to make you hover in the air or a backpack that allows you to carry extra ammo; and it doesn’t stop there you can even customise your head gear to help enhance your slam ability, increase health and much more. Other loot can be picked up in the game as well, like new unlocks in the store and in-game boosts that regenerate your ammo, heal your hero and boost the damage you dish out.
The game can be enjoyed on your own for you to take your anger out on all the robots trying to kill you, but it’s more aimed at being a 4-player online co-op game that you can play and have a laugh with your mates while enjoying a refreshing beer. The 4 player co-op mode is where the game really comes alive as well, because the enemies’ difficulty not only scales to how far you are in the game but how many people are playing, which along with the graphics is another similarity to be noticed with how the game Borderlands works. The problem with this is on one player it seems too easy at times and too hard at others, you either don’t seem to have enough robots to kill or you become overwhelmed and it seems impossible to escape. However on the 4 player co-op mode it seems to sync perfectly meaning you get a constant supply of robots and lots of them but not enough that you’re overwhelmed.
Another positive of the 4 player co-op is that within the game while you battle robots together the game introduces what it likes to call co-opetition. This means you’re competing with each other at the same time as fighting the robots trying to see who is the best performer and can claim the most kills. Get 1st place and be rewarded with more nuts than your friends as well as bragging rights at being the best robot killing machine out of your group.
One negative aspect of the game I found is if you decide to play a Quick Match like myself where you get thrust into a random match with other players. The problem is you often get put with players of a much higher level meaning for me the enemies were harder and my weapons wouldn’t do any damage so I just constantly died and had to be revived; although it does give you the chance to earn a lot more nuts. I think there needs to be a little work on this area of the game so when the servers search for a match, it puts people together with similar ranking so as not make the game impossible to play.
On the plus side the levels don’t seem to repetitive considering your goal on every level is the same. This is because every now and then the game throws a survival round at you to see how long you can last which is a great addition to the game. Added to that the fact the level has interactive environments where you can blow up containers and cars to dish out damage to your enemies, as well as blowing up surfaces with TNT to wipe out enemy hordes and smashing crates to search for extra loot.
Overall this game does exactly what it says on the tin. If you love a good shoot-‘em-up that allows you to blow up wave after wave of robots then I recommend this game as it gives you exactly that. The graphics are very cartoony and remind me of those found on Borderlands, and in a way it has that similar feel to the game where you go through the game, getting stronger facing revamped enemies and unlocking better weapons and modifications. For me this is a game better played with friends, but others may disagree and enjoy this game on their own. What I’m sure people won’t disagree on is this is one awesome game.
Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.
