Developer: Playniac
Publisher: Playniac
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, Mac OS
Tested on: PC
Insane Robots – Review
When robots go insane they don’t exterminate humanity, instead we send them to the arena to compete against other insane robots for our pleasure. In this new turn-based card game developed by Playniac you have the opportunity to battle against other robots to become the very best.
Story
There is a small story in the game. When you start playing you will find out that you play a robot that malfunctioned. Because the robot couldn’t fulfill the needs of humans anymore it’s sent to the arena. In the arena the robot has to battle other robots to the death for the amusement of the people. The ultimate goal is to reach the winners podium.
Like mentioned before it’s a short story where you constantly have to repeat the same thing. Battle the AIs, become the number one and advance to the next tournament. Every new tournament you enter is harder than the one before, which eventually makes you an experienced player. After this you can go online and take on other players. This built-in learning process is nicely done and makes up for the repetitive aspect of the game.
Graphics
Insane Robots uses cartoon graphics. The developers really put quite some effort in the making of the different arenas and all the robots introduced have their own special look. To do this they used a nice variety of colors. Downside to this is that it can look a bit childish and after seeing everything there isn’t much new to be excited about.
The cutscenes they use to introduce the new arenas or new parts of the game have the typical wow factor of different anime series, but this doesn’t last long. After watching it for a while, you soon realize it’s nothing special and some of them are completely useless.
Sound
When hearing the music and sound-effects in the game for the first few times they seem nicely done. The music in the menu screen creates the feeling of playing a futuristic wild west game. And the sound-effects in-game are really making clear what is happening, with different sounds for attack/defense for example. The music in the menu doesn’t change and comes off as repetitive, and so does the music in-game.
The voices in-game are robotic, what of course makes a lot of sense since the game is called Insane Robots and it’s all about those little machines. Unfortunately, you can’t really hear what they are saying. So you really have to read the text balloons to understand what they’re saying most of the time.
Gameplay
Insane Robots is a turn-based card game. The game is easy to understand; when you play the prologue at first you get familiar with all the basics. After completing the prologue you can either choose to continue playing against the AIs, finish the tournaments, reach the winners’ podium and with that complete the story mode. Or you can go online and take on other players and play with friends.
In both game modes the battles work the same. You both have some starting cards which consist out of attacking or defending cards, or some of the special cards which allow you to do something special like drain the strength of your opponent’s attack/defense. You also have the ability to merge cards to make them stronger.
When the match starts you can choose to upgrade your defense or attack or use a special card. You can do this until your energy runs out (energy points increase every turn). After this happens or you want to end your turn earlier, it’s your enemies chance to do something. When you have the right amount of energy and upgraded your attack, you have the opportunity to strike your opponent. When your attack is strong enough to drain the defense of the other you will drain its life points and like any other game, when it reaches zero you have won the game.
Fun thing about Insane Robots is that you have the chance to achieve overkill by making your enemies life points drop below zero into the minus which earns you extra in-game money.
While playing the game you can unlock forty-six different robots to play with and you will find over a hundred different upgrades to boost the strength of the robots. There is a total of five different maps who all have an unique environment. For example, one map resembles a rainforest.
Conclusion
Insane Robots seems like any other turn-based card game but has some features making it special enough so it does manage to stand out. It’s fun to play and when you just start playing the game you can sink hours in it. Eventually you will reach a point where it is too repetitive and its flaws will become more visible. For example the graphics have a rather childish look and the in-game voices aren’t the best.
Insane Robots - Review,
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