Robonauts
Developer: Qubic Games
Platforms: PS4, Nintendo Switch
Disclaimer: The code for this Nintendo Switch game was obtained for free, from a source that had obtained it for free from the developer.
Qubic Games arcade shooter Robonauts blasts its way onto the ever growing Nintendo e-shop but does it shoot straight to the top or get lost in space?
The first thing to start with is, usually, the music. Composed by Simon Viklund the soundtrack is the real MVP in Robonauts. Its crystal clear compositions perfectly suit the arcade action and sounds absolutely fantastic through headphones or a home cinema set up. It's high level polish like this that really pushes the game from a fairly interesting but average fair to a real hidden gem.
The art style and CG cut scenes are also of real quality with the charming “Wall-e” inspired intro being a particular highlight for me. The clean HD graphics look great on the handheld as well as TV and generally the game runs fantastically well. My only real complaint is the Text looking on the small side when playing in handheld mode.
Now for the most important part, Content! So the game comes packed with the aforementioned 12 planet single player mode which offers 2 difficulty settings to play. I found the Normal mode offered a fairly decent challenge and Hard was truly difficult! Overall I'd say the game took me about 4 hours to finish but it could be done quicker for a skilled player!
The game also offers a co-operative mode as well as a competitive mode, both work really well but are ultimately nothing more than added bonuses!
The main game mechanics are of a simple side scrolling shooter, with a Mario Galaxy-Esque planet traversing element. There are a number of primary and secondary weapons that can be obtained through killing enemies and these work well but I found the grenade trajectories a little tricky to anticipate at the start. Each of the mission follow a different structure and objective too which promotes different weapons for different situations which again works fine.
Overall I really enjoyed my time with Robonauts, the games overall polish is very high and provides an interesting standard for similar size e-shop title. The music is fantastic and is easily worth the price of admission. With all that said, the core games mechanics can feel a little overly simplistic once removes from the games considerable polish but that really is a very minor gripe for a game of this price point.
It's a fun little game that is incredibly well made.
My verdict is a 7/10