Played on:
Windows
Dell XPS M170 Laptop
2GHz Pentium M CPU
2GB DDR2 RAM
GF Go 7800GTX Video
Minimum System:
2GHz CPU
512MB RAM
GeForce 6600 or ATI
X800 video w/256MB
It's been a while since I've played a good puzzle/action game. After busting through stuff like Gears of War, Call of Duty 3 and Tony Hawk's Project 8 recently, it's interesting to jump into a budget-priced game that has me controlling a robot and going through a lighthearted romp to save a space station. RoboBlitz may not wind up being the best-looking of games, but I think you'll find that if you've got the system to handle it on, its unique physics-based puzzles and fast action are a nice change from so many other games out today.
You'll play as Blitz, a robot whose task is pretty daunting at first: you must reactivate an old and busted space station's defenses to protect his world from space pirates. No, this isn't Metroid - Blitz plays like a third person action game, and as you progress you'll gain new weapons and use unique tricks to finish the game's many puzzles and take out other haywire robots that infest the station.
The game is split up into six major areas, each with three levels. You've got to get various areas of the station working, and you'll have your choice of picking any of the six areas' puzzles in a non-linear fashion. There are a couple of areas that you won't be allowed into from the start, but once you pick up a couple of gadgets from other areas on the station, you'll be able to get in. Once you're in there, you'll need to explore and figure out what needs to be done to get these busted systems back online - that could involve some tricky jumping puzzles, moving things around, or readjusting subsystems.
Most of the puzzles in RoboBlitz aren't terribly difficult; this is a game a ten-year-old could have a good challenge with, and the simplistic robot violence is mild enough for most parents to be comfortable with when their kids are playing it. Even if a puzzle stumps you, the game does include hints that will give it away, so you can definitely at least keep going if you get stuck. And many of these puzzles are physics-based too, as Blitz can grab onto stuff or even use a special gun that creates a bond between two objects to stick them together. You can get really creative with this system and do all kinds of crazy things, including making large makeshift weapons.
Blitz is completely modeled and animated with real physics calculations, all powered by Epic Games' Unreal engine. He rolls around on a sphere which means that acceleration and other movements will take some getting used to, but he can also jump with some booster jets on his pack, grab things, and use spin attacks to take out the robots who want to smash him to bits. There are also various weapons that Blitz can get, but he's got to collect up the cash littered through out levels to be able to afford it. Some of the guns are really fun to use, while others are a bit of a chore in some cases. One of my favorite ones is the Hovergun, which lets you shoot anything and it will just start floating around in the air. This becomes crucial to at least one of the puzzles in the game, but there are other fun uses for it as well.
For those that are aware of the Unreal engine, you might be wondering what it's doing powering a budget game like Roboblitz. Sure, this is no Gears of War, but I think you'll find that the engine happens to work really well with this game. From the lighting and special effects to the physics, it's a good match. Again, this is still a budget game, but even considering that, the graphics are much better than you might expect out of something like this. Unfortunately, the downside is that the game's performance is pretty bad; I've gotten better performance out of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion at the same resolution and detail settings that I did out of Roboblitz. You'll need a pretty beefy computer if you want to keep the detail settings up high.
RoboBlitz also comes with a level editor - again, it's part of the Unreal engine package. The official site for the game has a Wiki up with some basic info on creating maps and using the Unreal engine's physics/scripting system, Kismet, to create new levels that are just as complex as what we've seen from the developers. I always like seeing off-beat games like this come with modding tools, and while I don't really foresee any huge community springing out of this game's editing capabilities, it still will very likely add value as at least a few creative people will probably make new levels for you to try.
RoboBlitz brings action, puzzles, and physics together to make for a much better game than I was expecting, and its budget price certainly helps a lot. It's available via Steam or directly from the official site for $14.95, and a trial is also available to check out. An Xbox 360 version, which will be available via Live Arcade, will be launching soon as well. While the system requirements are pretty rough for a game of this type, if you've got the hardware then this is definitely a good value for anyone who wants a light puzzle-action romp. It's perfectly suitable for the kids as well.
