Awesomenauts – Review

Awesomenauts, a game where the best describing words for the title, is right there in the title. The game is both awesome and “nautical” in all sense of the word. Taking its styling from the Moba genre and mixing it with something like Gunstar Heroes this game certainly does not disappoint. If every moment of a round is not spent with some sort of intense action, then that round is just not being played right. Like so many Indie titles this game has a clutchy feel that is straight out of the mid ’80s to ’90s. Bringing to mind both iconic Saturday morning shows and past classics that still, to this day, define gaming.

Story:

There’s not much in the way for story for Awesomenauts. However that does not stop it in the least and actually leaves it more open to the users to interpret as they go from match to match. The little available of the story explains that in 3587 there is a massive war that pits two large factions against each other. Either faction being red or blue and the characters being played belong to a third faction that is a mercenary corporation that is to help the war go in one way or the other and goes by the term ‘Awesomenauts’.

My explanation does the game’s story no justice though, it’s story (or lack thereof) is extremely engaging. How you say? It’s actually very easy to answer that; the game has one of the best intro trailers I have laid eyes upon in some time. That plus an intro practice level unfortunately is as far as the story extends though, and it would be beautiful if there was a story mode that continued off of your first and only mission.

Graphics:

The graphic portion of the game is not very heavy. The title is a 2d Moba after all so it’s not focused on dynamic graphics. But even so it’s a beautiful environment with rich reflections in the stages that have standing water. The style feels like you’re playing inside of a comic book, or some sort of ramped up Mario game.
Save for the graphic system, much of the game is dynamic, as the ‘levels’ are not directly dynamic but much of it still is. Most areas sport switches or pressure plates that either help provide you with reinforcements or even, in the case of one map, opens up a gaping hole at the bottom that a giant worm comes out of and devours anyone unlucky enough to be standing above it. Many levels sport this sort of hazard, or “triggered benefit” sort of gameplay to their levels, in one there was an anti gravity portion locked in the middle of the map between turrets which both served as a way to get away toward the top of the area that had health items or a way to get stuck getting away as the zero gravity makes you move slower and makes you more susceptible to area attacks from enemies.

Sound:

The game’s soundtrack is amazing, and in fact besides gameplay and the beautiful comic-book-esque visuals, is definitely what pulls you in the most. Each character has a ‘kill streak’ theme that plays when you have killed a few enemies without dying. The best part is the game’s actual theme that ques a small sample at the end of every victorious match. The theme song for the game is an emotionally driven popish recreation of 80’s Saturday morning shows that not only pulls you into the music with how engaging it is; but also pulls you into the game setting the vibe, the tone, and the excitement for the coming matches.

Gameplay:

Each map begins with you selecting from a palette of available skills (3 per category), which determines what your build will or can possibly be for that match. Normally matches last anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour depending on how well the teams are playing. Which sort of gears it toward the length of matches of most other Mobas, but none of which quite pull off the feel and enthusiasm this game brings to the table.

Each match almost feels unique, as the areas do not necessarily change but depending on your character the feel and the gameplay changes dramatically. The game also makes sure to pack in an extensive list of archetypes for the characters as it ranges from everything from tanks, to damage-per-second (DPS) providers, to a healing support character. All of which are memorable and have their own dialogue and feel making for a unique experience, especially when you meld your playstyle with other players.

Controls are fairly tight, if you jump you will jump, if you do a skill it will do so even if you ill timed it, there are no major balance issues or glitches that I could find. However the game’s player base does make sure to exploit every possible outcome. In one match I played, a person on the enemy team made sure they were a character named gnaw which has seedlings, they then placed the seedlings where creeper enemies spawn. These enemies don’t normally do damage to you (unless they are a solar boss), and instead do the very opposite. The enemies drop healing items and since seedlings attack enemies, I’m sure you can see where I’m going with this. I have also encountered people that actually exploited the games built in calculation on how attacks will land. There is a character named coco and her attacks will land, regardless of whether there is lag, meaning at times the attack actually goes invisible or hits you when it is not to supposed to because it seems the players who utilize the character purposely lag.

Conclusion:

Awesomenauts is a game made by indie developer Romano games which also developed Swords and Soldiers(which we also have a review on), as well as a de Blob. This title I believe is their most notable. Their other games are great but they do not pull you in and keep you engaged for hours, the way Awesomenauts does. Many night I couldn’t pull myself from the game, it’s extremely easy to get lost in it for not just a few minutes but several hours. As each victory rewards you with points toward their levelling system which then leads to new skills; which leads to new play styles and even further customization of your characters layout.Even so, the game does have a issues, there is certainly character abuse when you start getting toward the top of the leaderboards and lag isn’t rampant but it is a problem, as detailed there’s almost a unfilled void when it comes to a story. All other aspects of the game are near flawless, this is by far one of the best titles I have played and so far the best Indie title.

Craig Lynn

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Craig spends most of his time playing Persona games to a ridiculous degree.

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