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ROBOBEAT – Review

When we think of rhythm games, titles such as Guitar Hero or DDR come to mind. While these titles probably put the genre on the map for a broader audience, a few developers also try their hand at the genre to create something original. We have seen rhythm-based action games and even shooters. ROBOBEAT is the latter, and it aims to make a name for itself in this niche subgenre. We were lucky enough to try out the console port, and we were blown away by the impressive soundtrack first and foremost, while also enjoying the frantic gameplay that was paired with it. Story Surprisingly, there is actually a notion of a story present in ROBOBEAT. You’ll be playing as Ace, a famous bounty hunter, going after your next target, Frazzer. Frazzer, however, is seemingly holding all the cards, as you’ll have to go through his wicked arenas that are filled to the brim with robot-like entities. While the story does somewhat unfold as you progress, the narrative does take the backseat for the most part of this light-infused, music-driven ride. We didn’t really mind that the story felt a bit light, as this is clearly a title that’s all about its gameplay and sound design. Graphics ROBOBEAT has a fairly distinct graphical style. The game uses old-school vector graphics and neon colors to create a distinct identity for itself, and it works to a certain extent. Everything looks flashy and interesting, but things look a bit simplistic at times and some environments feel really empty. We did enjoy that enemies and hazards were highlighted with bright colors, making sure we could focus on what matters during the hectic battles the game throws you into. The gun models looked quite spiffy and so did the attack animations. Performance on PlayStation 5 was smooth a butter, which is also important for a title such as this. Sound If there’s anything that truly stood out when it comes to ROBOBEAT’s audiovisual presentation, then it would be the amazing soundtrack. The uptempo and upbeat rock-ish and beat-heavy tunes are truly what get you in the mood to run around like a madman shooting everything in sight. We would, at times, just pick one of the songs we liked and just enjoy it for a few minutes before actually diving into one of the game’s levels. This alone is a testament to how great the soundtrack actually is. The sound effects are decent too, and they provide proper audio feedback for your weapons, when you’re off-beat, or when you take damage. It’s a well-designed mix. Gameplay ROBOBEAT is a first-person roguelike shooter with its main mechanic revolving around shooting enemies in sync with the beat of the audio track you’ve chosen. It’s all very straightforward, as you’ll just go from one level to the next, shooting enemies, while also dodging, sliding, and so on. The concept is simple, but it does take quite some time before you’re actually able to master what ROBOBEAT expects of you. It’s a fun grind, but one that does have a fairly high difficulty curve, making it harder for casual players. Right off the bat, ROBOBEAT throws you in the thick of it, as you’ll just have to unlock the first level and get right to shooting. You’ll be able to pick an unlocked song to go with your shooting frenzy, and you’ll have to time your shots to the beat of that song. A slower song means you can ease up your trigger finger from time to time, but it will make things harder if you’re getting swarmed. Shooting off-beat will make it so you don’t really damage your enemies. It’s a bit of a learning curve, but it’s quite fun to time things to the beat. You’ll unlock new weapons as you go, and you can even find upgraded versions during a run. After each run, be it a successful or a failed one, you’ll return to the game’s hub area. Even though ROBOBEAT’s controls feel intuitive, and the actual gameplay feels very smooth, the game isn’t that accessible to newcomers to the genre. A bit of aim assist would have helped console players to make this title feel a bit more forgiving, or at least presenting the option to have it turned on could have helped. The difficulty curve is also rather high to overcome, and while it’s certainly satisfying to overcome hurdles, it did feel like a bit ‘too much’ at times. Nonetheless, the overall progression curve is nice, and unlocking new weapons and power-ups does make everything a bit easier during subsequent attempts at clearing levels. Conclusion ROBOBEAT is an entertaining roguelike shooter where you have to time your shots to the beat of your chosen song(s). While the game did suffer from difficulty spikes and a few rough edges here and there, the overall gameplay loop proved to be rather amusing. The soundtrack was truly the highlight here, and it gelled well with the visuals. If you’re looking for a shooter with a great soundtrack, ROBOBEAT is probably a game for you. If you’d rather just enjoy the soundtrack without dying over and over again, then that’s a solid option too.