Robonauts is a vibrant and musically benefited arcade shooter that is essentially an arena-based Contra but with the rotating planet jump of Super Mario Galaxy. There isn’t anything that has really been done before, and this shooter can provide a quick burst of co-op entertainment, but ultimately the solo campaign becomes tedious and frustrating with higher difficulty spikes.
From a side scrolling perspective, the player controls a robot within a robot with the goal of shooting anything that moves. The screen rotates with the player to give the feeling that you are walking around the planet’s surface. Unfortunately, I personally found the camera movement to be a little jarring and actually disorienting; seasick prone gamers beware. The upbeat techno soundtrack is also professionally composed and is unquestionably a stand-out feature.
Besides the standard hand canon, occasional weapon pick-ups will provide a temporary buff to offensive capabilities and new enemies appear from time to time as you platform your way from planet to planet. Unfortunately, the auto aim function occasionally gets confused regarding which target to attack. The worst part, however, is the lack of checkpoints; it is super frustrating to die near the end of the stage only to have to start all over again. Granted, each of the main campaign’s 12 stages are not that long but drastically increase in difficulty after each stage.
In addition to the planet jumping gimmick, the main bullet point of Robonauts is the two player mode. Local only co-op and versus mode is actually when the game shines the brightest and luckily doesn’t suffer from slow down or frame drops. It is just too bad there are no online leaderboards or online connectivity to increase replay value.
Priced at $15, Robonauts doesn’t really do anything wrong but also doesn’t stand out. If you are a fan of old school arcade-like shooters that focuses on high scores and fastest times, looking for some local Switch co-op, and enjoy a fast paced techno soundtrack, this QubicGames shooter could be worth the price of admission. But overall, the experience is forgettable.
Not To Be Confused With: Awesomenauts
Wait For it: Contra 5
Also Try: NEOGEO downloadable games from the Switch eShop
By: Zachary Gasiorowski, Editor in Chief myGamer.com
Twitter: @ZackGaz
Rating
Our Rating - 6.5
6.5
Total Score
A simple arcade shooter than plays best with two players.