2008 saw the release of a little game called Robokill from Rock Solid Arcade. It was a top-down shooter in a sea of top-down shooters that had the distinction of being what we in "the biz" call pretty freakin' sweet. It also involved robots. Now, friends, the year is at an end, and what better way to send it out with a bang than with Robokill 2? Note that this is a demo; the first mission, comprised of four lengthy episodes, is free to play.
In the future, robot death machines are pretty simple to control. Move with the [WASD] or [arrow] keys, point and shoot with your mouse. Access the map, inventory, or pause the game from tabs at the bottom of the screen, or with the [M], [I], and [P] keys, respectively. [1] and [2] or [space] and [shift] activate special items you have equipped. Move through rooms avoiding enemies, open pits, explosions, and lay waste to everything that moves. You've got four weapons slots, so you'll want to make use of the perplexing amounts of cash you'll find lying around to buy upgrades. Killing enemies also nets you experience points, and once you've gained enough, you'll gain a level, along with a boost to your damage and shields.
Dying, of course, is to be avoided, but it's not a game-breaker. You'll respawn at a nearby teleportation pad, minus a paltry sum of cash, and will receive a message indicating that enemies have retaken some of the areas you previously cleared out in your absence. But more fiendish than death is the fact that if you stop playing in the middle of an episode, the next time you pick the game up again you'll have to start all over again from the beginning of that episode. All your upgrades, inventory, and cash will be intact, but you'll need to clear out all the rooms and find all the keys again. Frustrating? Little bit. Just make sure you're ready to play an entire episode when you sit down unless you mind mowing down your foes all over again.
There are a lot of weapons to be unlocked as you progress, and there's challenge even in deciding how you want to upgrade your arsenal. While the shotgun does more damage than the blasters you're initially given, for example, it also has a much slower rate of fire. But while the blasters fire faster, the shotgun also spreads out and can suppress wider waves of incoming enemies. Oh no! Whichever will you choose? Well, why not both? Or four? Since you can carry a good deal of inventory with you, you can swap weapons in and out to adjust your strategy for any situation. Sun Tzu would be proud.
Analysis: So, what's changed between the original and the sequel? As it happens... not much. Area designs have gotten a lot better, and you're shooting up squishy organic creatures instead of robots, but for the most part the game looks largely identical to its esteemed predecessor. Disappointing? Maybe a little, depending how much you value aesthetics. It winds up feeling more like an expansion pack than a sequel. What does feel different is the difficulty, which seems to have been ramped up slightly. The game is much quicker to throw entire swarms of enemies at you, rooms are smaller and tighter to move around in, and traps are in abundance.
You can stand your ground dramatically going "YAAAAAH" as enemies converge on you while you hold down the trigger, but this is quickly revealed to be little more than a good way to get yourself an unfortunate case of dead. You'll have a much easier go of it if you treat each room almost as a puzzle, taking advantage of the clever layouts, with the solution being the quickest, cleanest way to kill everything inside. Admittedly, one does wonder as to why the aliens have been so thoughtful as to frequently leave explosives laying about in such a way as they trigger domino-like explosions that effortlessly lay waste to the entire area in a precise manner. But my grandmother told me not to look a gift exploding death trap in the mouth. Or... something to that effect.
For those of you with itchy trigger fingers (usually the sweaty, nervous looking ones), you'll be happy to hear that Robokill 2 also offers a plethora of rooms that require you to be quick on your feet and heavy on the bullets. Some enemies are more clever than others, and will retreat to use the environment against you. While running around the room dodging enemy fire and trying to find an opening to do some damage of your own can be exciting, however, it also quickly introduces one to a wild and unbridled hatred of pits. Sure these un-walled instant deathtraps add more challenge to the game, but running blindly off the edge of one because you were trying to avoid the dozen or more enemies swarming your position is intensely frustrating, illustrated here by italics rather than the colourful language I may or may not have used at the time.
Fans of the original will find a lot to like in Robokill 2, and newcomers with a taste for robots and top-down mayhem may well be wooed. Even if you don't decide to buy the game, the demo itself is tremendously fun and offers substantial meat for you to dig into. Robokill 2 doesn't revolutionize the top-down shooter genre; it just shows how it should be done. While it might not do much to move forward from its roots, it's still a ton of fun and is probably ready for a shining spot in any fan's collection.
SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!
The review is largely spot-on, but I came to a completely different conclusion. Having played the original Robokill (including buying the full version and playing through the whole game), the fact that Robokill 2 is basically identical to the original version just magnified this game's flaws. I was incredibly annoyed throughout the whole episode, and it just wasn't worth playing even though I loved Robokill 1.
I finished the first free episode, and I can tell you right now that if you bought Robokill 1, you're just going to be wasting your money buying Robokill 2.
Stupid things from Robokill 1 that survive in Robokill 2:
-- The instant death traps where you fall off: they're just stupid. Some of the levels are deliberately designed to be almost symmetrical but not quite, such that there's a barrier on one side and a death trap in the same spot on the other. Since you're concentrating on killing the enemies when you come in the room, you don't notice this with your peripheral vision, and so you accidentally careen off the edge. IT'S SO STUPID. STOP THAT CRAP.
-- "Ambushes". What's the point? In most rooms, aliens start out in the room. So how is an "ambush" different if they simply teleport into the room as soon as you get there? It's just stupid.
-- Aliens "retaking" rooms. The most annoying thing about this is that it's just random. Aliens take back random rooms when you die. You'd think that if there are certain unconquered rooms, the rooms that the aliens take back would be adjacent to those unconquered rooms. But noooooo, aliens just randomly move to random rooms and take them back. Stupid.
-- The game lies to you about the number of rooms the aliens take back. They consistently take back one more room than the game says. Not really that big of a deal, but again, since this game is identical to the original version, flaws like this just become an order of magnitude more irritating.
-- Encourages linear play in subtle ways: I like to clear all rooms that don't require keys before going back and clearing the rooms that *do* require keys. (There's no reason to do this, but I just like doing it this way.) However, what happens is sometimes you happen to get into a situation where you have a locked blue door, and the blue key to open it is *behind* that blue door! Sometimes you have to open doors in a certain order, and it's just annoying.
-- You can't explicitly trigger shields. They only automatically trigger when you get low. This doesn't make any difference, but if you don't realize this, you're stuck looking around for how to activate a shield powerup.
New things in Robokill 2:
-- Colored keys. ooooOOOOoooo! :rolleyes:
-- Rolling explosives. This is kind of cool -- you can shoot some explosives a little bit and they'll roll and explode when they hit an enemy.
-- Aliens that throw boxes at you. Kind of neat, but not that big of a threat.
-- Aliens that release squishy blobby bombs when they die. Again, kind of neat, but not really that big of a deal.
-- Difficult aliens with a hard head that is impervious to weapons, but is slow to turn so you can get behind their back and kill them that way. Again, kind of neat, but a tired gameplay mechanic that isn't really used that much.
-- Basically no new weapons except for a shockwave and a shield.
-- Virtually identical, entirely unoriginal gameplay that is basically the same as the original version.
I'm being snarky, but holy heck Robokill 2 really irritated me to no end.
Grande Simone!
well it was fun until I managed to finish the second level way too early and then just kept getting annihilated on the third level.
Note: you can go back to previous missions if you go back to the menu.
@Simone Manganelli I have to disagree with you here. This game introduces many new mechanics, such as the cluster grenade and the attack droid. I only played the demo, and I discovered a bunch of new weapons. The enemies are also all new, and many are very different from the ones of the first game. For one, they are more varied; there are snipers and what look like trolls with stinger missiles, and also more upgradable. There are the crawler type enemies that can fire grenades, large bullets, and missiles, as well as the upgraded time that runs at you. There are the bipedal type, which have shotguns, machineguns, pistols, and sniper-rifles, the lizard type, which have blasters, little sacks of homing worms, and come in different levels, and the troll type, which throw boxes and shoot missiles. Finally, there are these flying things that were introduced at the end of mission 4.
One thing that gets me about this game is the penalty for dying. Each room is sort of like a level, and losing two rooms for dying is especially hard when you are stuck on a level. Especially when you have to go back and re-conquer all the levels just to get back to the one you're stumped on, I feel it is unnecessary effort.
I did not encounter any dead end situations yet, maybe you had missed a room somewhere, Simone?
Anyway my biggest complaint:
these friggin turrets that are supposed to help you... how am I supposed to avoid hitting them if they are sometimes dead center in the room and the enemies are behind them from my point of view? What good is a slooooooow missile turret in a room full of little swarm critters supposed to do anyway?
end of rant
i liked robokill 1 and couldnt be bothered to buy the rest f the levels. i dont care that this version is virtually the same. as they say "who can improve on perfection"
I really hate to say it but this is a big disappointment.
I loved robokill 1 and it was one of the first flash games that I paid real money for. It had faults but it looked fantastic and you went round and blasted things and all was good. In robokill 2 it all falls apart.
You can't go through the game without repeating levels - at certain points on your 1st run through you will run into a room that is simply impossible with the weapons you have at that time. You'll try and try then give up and repeat the previous level to get enough cash for better guns, which is just dull.
The new weapons are mostly useless. You will be killed 20 times while trying to get used to 'click and release' firing and then you'll give up and go back to the 'click and hold' weapons. You will probably finish the game before you rack up enough XP to use the higher level weapons. I never even found out what a devastator does because I finished the game before I got to a high enough level to use it. Getting one would mean more farming for cash on the lower levels which is... dull.
Splitting extra items into types A and B and allowing only 2 of each is just a bad idea full stop. You could have had great fun setting up defensive or attacking robots but the game forces you to balance. So you can't carry enough shields for tough rooms, and nor can you increase your firepower significantly.
I liked the secret rooms, the aliens do look cool, and I don't mind falling off the odd edge, but overall this game got boring very, very quickly.
this is an EPIC improvement to the first
Did anyone figure out how to get over to the ledges where food and supplies are, but you can't walk over there?
Some more thoughts, having finished the game.
This game could've been very good but they messed it up big time.
-Why have something like 10 different weapons when all you'll ever need is a combination of 2 heavy lasers + blasters/pulse gun/shredder because that'll blast everything to bits anyway?
-Whats with all the extra gimmicks that are rendered useless because you'll need all the slots for shield repair/active shield/emergency repair items anyway? Only thing I ever used was the magnet thing. Nice idead with the droids but their firepower is a joke from what I've seen.
-Repetition of level layouts... felt like I've played the same 10 + 15 levels over and OVER and O V E R again. Gets boring fast.
-Why are levels instantly over once you reach the objective? Maybe I'd like to explore the rest of it too?!?
-Money balance seems messed up too. In the beginning you'll be swimming in money and the more you come towards the less you'll have compared to what the better guns cost. I think in the end I'd have to play one whole mission to buy one decent gun.
-I finished the game before I could even get the best guns and I really can't be bothered to go back and replay just to try them. (because of all above...)
Now I don't hate this game, I'm just disappointed because it could've been so much better... I wondered if they had any serious playtesting at all... :(
I honestly believe that this was a great improvement. I felt that 1 wasnt as challenging as it should have been and I felt there should have been more customization allowed, and with 2 I feel alot better with the weapons and active/inactive slots (though I still think there shoudl be more customization). The weapon choices are great, and most of the rooms I thought were "Unbeatable" (act 1: mission 3, room 2) I just had to try with a different mindset (ever notice how if you time it right you can sneak past the bat things, then run back? you dont have to go out like Mouse in the matrix ladies and gentleman!). Ive enjoyed everything i've seen and it feels great, but I do feel there should be some improvements (IMO) like insta-death traps aswell as a bit TOO many edges on some levels. Honestly though,its one of my favorite flash games, and kudos to the game creators!
Was quite exited about the new release, Bought and have played the original more than one. The click and release mechanism for shooting is flawed from the get go. You have two mouse buttons, why not use them One for the your main gun and one to act as the release for the others. Am getting very frustrated on level 4. Very difficult to get past certain rooms, even though have gone back to get more cash to buy better weapons. Gets boring really quickly. The disappearing floor is neat idea but should be consistent. Annoying to get cornered and die just because a tile disappeared one time but not the next. Was exited but am now quite disappointed. Will not buy this version unless improved
I enjoyed the previous versions, and I greatly enjoyed the upgrade. A very nice 2-D top view shoot-em-up. That I have always enjoyed since Robotron 2084 introduced it. THe Weapons plan your strategy, either knockback shotguns, or Multi-hit blasters, etc. And when the goo really hits the fan you have secondary add-ons to help you out.
Great time waster, and it is fun to play a game that doesn't just get faster, or makes you expend "lives"
There is a pink magnetic sucking thing you can buy in the shops which is useful to: "get over to the ledges where food and supplies are, but you can't walk over there"
"Why are levels instantly over once you reach the objective? Maybe I'd like to explore the rest of it too?!?"
It's not nearly as bad as Mass Effect 2 which is completely inconsistent
I thought the instant death falls were ok - added to the challenge (along with most of the other things people are moaning about here). Would have liked to see more opportunities to sleep with aliens.
I think this game is a definite improvement over the first.
Things I like:
* More strategy. In Robokill 1 the approach to each room was the same: circle-strafe while avoiding enemies until everything's destroyed. In Robokill 2 this approach doesn't work very well. You have to take cover, pick off the biggest threats first, and generally think more about how to get past each room. You might even have to enter the room from a different door. The review is spot-on in saying each room is like a puzzle.
* Smarter and more interesting enemies.
* Map that gets revealed as you progress.
Things I don't like:
* Huge focus on instant-death traps, pits and enemies that kill you if they touch you. A bit too frustrating for me, but not so bad when you have a good strategy going. But it does make the difficulty curve seem artificial.
* Weapons are slightly too expensive.
* Click and hold weapons, while somewhat useful for area-of-effect attacks, are still awkward to use.
* It doesn't make as much sense for enemies to retake rooms randomly when you die, but I can see that it might be better than making it totally impossible for the player to get past a bottleneck.
* Minor annoyance: Losing a fixed percentage of your cash each time you die is a bit silly. Why should you suddenly go back to losing about 200 cash just after spending most of your money on a shiny new gun? Losing cash based on your level makes more sense.
Miscellaneous:
* The turrets are exploitable: you can shoot them and dodge, and when they reset themselves you get a free shield recharge if you are carrying the recharger. Also works with traps that you guess or know to be there.
* A good strategy in many levels is to not move at all, unless absolutely necessary to avoid death. This means you won't trigger as many traps while you're gunning down the first wave of enemies.
The game is good overall, but i could do without the click-and-release weapons, and the turrets don't help you at all. A good strategy for lvl 2 room 3 something is to get an active shield and/or sonic pulse. The game does lie to you about the number of rooms taken back, I lost 5 rooms when it said I lost 2, huge bug. I dont mind ledges but they should build an alarm to warn you when you're gonna fall off. I simply think that the one hit-ko traps and enemies are bogus. Some rooms are so dangerous in early levels that you would be safer with a grenade in your mouth. ex: 2nd room lvl 2 i was stuck on it for 45 minutes, and I was lvl 4 with 3 medium blasters and a light shotgun. Reinforcements are annoying, some enemies teleport themselves right beside you and kill you.
@ charlatan. it's true the turrets helped you but did you see something different in some levels? If it must be computerized the turrets are something paralyzing, instead of helping you, they're helping them to kill you. i`ve seen it different , so try to play again if you see it mysteriously!
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