Puzzle Bots Review

There’s this film called Blade Runner.  You may have seen it.  It’s set in the future and there’s a police type guy whose job it is to find and kill ultra-realistic human-like androids who aren’t allowed on Earth because it’s the law.  This is a hard job – they look just like humans!  But, if he suspects someone of being an android thing, he’s got this machine that scans their eyes as a test to see if they’re actually human or not.  Now, Blade Runner isn’t real, but I’ve found a similarly effective humanity detector just in case.  To activate it, go here.  Buy, download and play this game.

If you don’t like it, YOU’RE A FLIPPING ROBOT.

Which, ironically, is exactly what Puzzle Bots is about.  Hurrah.

The little bots try and fix a broken bigger bot.  Also, fires.

Puzzle Bots is a little adventure game in which you solve puzzles using five tiny robots and the unique ability of each, replacing the usual adventure game verb commands with the bots’ respective functions: ‘pick up’, ‘push’, ‘set fire to’, ‘go in water’ and ‘throw bomb at’. From now on, all adventure games need a ‘throw bomb at’ command.

The game’s simple puzzles require your robots’ teamwork; I needed to free an item from some pond weed so I chose flamethrower-bot Kelvin to burn the weed, Ultrabot to push the burned weed aside and waterproof shrimp-bot Ibi to swim into the pond and drag it on land for pick-up bot Hero to pick it up.  Something weird is going on at Dr Hugo’s Factory for Making Robots and it’s up to the bots to sneak out of their robo-dome home and find out what, while effecting the lives of their human inventors in their own teeny robotic way.

That fish has a helmet – look how happy he is!

“Why are you telling us about this little indie game that is so blatantly and colourfully aimed at casual gamers and/or kids?”  I hear you gripe.  “We are mighty PC hobbyist who visit your puny site as a very symptom of our fevered gaming acuity.”

“We care not for such trifles”, you add.

The answer is simply this: Puzzle Bots is just utterly adorable.  I defy you to find me a single beating-hearted human who would fail to find this game charming.  Even though the puzzles are simple and the plot is (knowingly) hokey I was grinning along with the sweet behaviour of the little bots as they bumbled around, chirping their naive interpretations of the world they encounter outside their laboratory home.  They find a toaster and think it’s a giant, angry robot; upon seeing two characters kissing, Ultrabot asks “Why are the humans’ faces stuck together”, Kelvin postulates: “Maybe they are joined in battle.”  Awwww.  The artwork is bold and cheerful with funny incidental details and the cut-scene exposition involving the human inventors and their boss Hugo has the wit of a gentle Day of the Tentacle.

The bots dome home – find hidden bonuses while adventuring to furnish it.

Perhaps I’ve been playing too many FPSs recently, or it may be the general aura of seriousness surrounding so many PC titles, but it’s so good to experience a game that’s genuinely funny and unafraid to display a little joie de vivre.

This is not to say that Puzzle Bots is all heart and no polish.  It’s a game built in AGS and sure, the animations exhibit what I’ll describe as a comforting, old-school quality, but it still looks good (4:3 support only, though).  The music and dialogue score highly on my VU meter of gaming sound as well.  When even AAA games fail to put the effort into recorded dialogue it’s great to see a low budget release pull it off with aplomb; Puzzle Bots’ cast hit the mood perfectly, with no dud performances to temper the fun.  And the music doesn’t get annoying.  Success.

‘My eyes are up here, pal.‘

If there’s a drawback it’s the price tag which, at just over £10 for the download, is a little steep for a game of about two to three hours, but…  It’s just so lovely you probably won’t care when you’re actually playing it.  It’s also an example of what’s great about independent PC game development.  It’s the first commercial release by indie dev Erin Robinson, aided by Dave Gilbert and Wadjet Eye Games (of the Blackwell adventure series).  It’s kind of an indie dev helping indie dev thing, like the Indie Fund, and if you care about the plurality of games and ideas you should totally support it.

A is for Angry Internet Men, B is for Bombs, C is for erm… Cut-scenes?

Puzzle Bots is a cotton-candy flavoured jelly bean of a game.  My embittered PC gaming heart loves it, so will yours.  It’s cute, funny, easy to get into, not frustrating (with the inclusion of a handy recharging hints button if you get stuck); it’s a casual game for a low-spec machine; it’s a game that you can keep on your hard-drive for the occasions when non-gamers or young relatives come over and you want something that’ll show them why PC gaming is awesome.  For what’s more or less pocket change, you could do a lot worse than let this delightful sunbeam into your life.  Hey, don’t be a replicant, be a replican (I am funny).