Game Review #275: Crashbots (Nintendo Switch)

Reviewer: The Waffinator (Brad E.)

Developer: Neonchimp Games

Publisher: Sometimes You

Category: Platformer, Arcade, Action

Release Date: 5.1.2019

Price (at time of review): $9.99

Buy Crashbots from the Nintendo Switch eShop here.

Overview

Platformers seem to be growing in the world of video games; more and more keep hitting the market. In fact, I would say platformers are slowly becoming one of my favorite style of games. But when there are so many of them, how do you make one that stands out? How do you make one that will make your players addicted and keep them coming back for more? To me it would be tough to make something that stands out in such a vast crowd, but not Neonchimp Games – with an assist from Sometimes You. They took the chance in the platformer world with Crashbots. Well I recently got to get my hands on it and gave it a whirl. Let’s see exactly how I felt.

Crashbots has you playing as robots to “test” them in the field. So, kind of like the military building robots and giving them field tests. Well there are 5 different robots that you can play as and upgrade if you can find all their pieces that are spread throughout the levels. Each robot has their own stats and their own Special/Heavy attack. There are two different game modes you can play:

WORLD MODE: You are playing through set levels and trying to reach the goal before your energy runs out. There is a total of 6 different worlds each with multiple levels that are all set up with different traps and challenges. Each final level of the world will give you a boss fight that you must make it past, this is where Special/Heavy attacks are used and come in handy. Make sure to watch out for the robot parts so that way you can unlock new bots. Also, each stage/level has a chance to collect 3 Stars. To unlock new worlds you will need to obtain a certain amount of stars to advance to each world.

ENDLESS MODE: Here you are just running as far as you can before your energy fully depletes. More of a skill test mode. Your energy will drain from you running, sliding, jumping and if you take damage from the traps laid throughout the course. You must reach the goal line before you run out. You can pick up Batteries to give yourself a recharge and the size of the battery will determine the amount of energy you gain back.

Controls

Because Crashbots is an auto-running platformer you are using the Left Thumbstick (or you can use the D-Pad) to move between three lanes to dodge any trap or obstacle in your way. Right bumper shoots your normal weapon, Left Bumper fires Special weapon, B slides and A jumps (hovers if you hold A). I played both in Portable mode and Docked with a controller and in both modes the controls were very smooth and made it easy to grasp the button layout and jump right into playing.

Audio/Visuals

Even though Crashbots is a typical platformer where you are running from one side to another the camera angle almost makes you feel otherwise. It makes it seem like you are almost running at a slight angle. Because it is about robots it has that very sci-fi feeling with the audio outputs. You have your laser noises when you fire your gun, a cool noise when you get batteries to charge you up, and it has very upbeat space-like background music. Overall the sound effects and the BGM were a perfect fit for the game.

Wrapping Up

Overall the game isn’t too shabby to be honest. At first, I wasn’t sold on it but the more I play the more I find myself trying to get all the randomly spread out Bot pieces so I can build and have all the robots to play as. Also I want to max out each robot - yeah that’s right; you can upgrade a few stats on each robot, making beating each stage more achievable. You collect coins and can in turn use the coins for the upgrades. The reason I wasn’t too sold on the game at first is because it doesn’t really stand out and scream for my attention like many other platformers that I have played or seen. I feel like if this game had a lower price point to match the overall experience that it could do well. It has the challenges and the ease of play, but it doesn’t give an overall wow or stand out.