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0 Splatterbot, is a family-friendly couch co-op party game by Hey! Kookaburra. It was released back at the start of September and priced at only £8.50 on Steam, it’s cheaper than feeding the family at McDonald’s.
The Roomba Done You Dirty
So just what does Splatterbot have in store for you? Let’s find out!
Gameplay
Straight off the bat, you’ll be greeted with a couple of modes. One allows you to play free-for-all, and one allows you to play team games. It’s nice and straightforward, no frills here at all. Once you’ve picked your game mode you are greeted with the Select a player/colour screen. This is where you will determine what colour your Splatterbot will leave in its wake. But also, whether you will have 4 human-controlled players, or you want to add AI to the mix.
Whether you pick the team option or the lone wolf one, the next bit is exactly the same. You get to pick one of six arenas, and then the fun starts. Your aim is to paint the arena with as much paint as you can. You are given one action button, a little dash move that helps you bridge gaps as well as get to power-ups nice and fast. It’s fun, frenetic, and there is a small amount of tactics, but most of the time, you will just be moving around the arena.
To give yourself the upper hand, power-ups appear now and again. These range from speed-ups to a power-up that makes your Splatterbot bigger. Now you can’t collect an infinite amount of some of the power-ups; there is a limit. There is also a power-up that creates a small paintball. This can be nudged around the arena, and it allows paint to be placed in a neat little line. The final power-up, and probably my favourite, is the splat. This, when collected, covers a large area in paint, giving you an instant boost to your covered area.
Graphics & Audio
The graphics are simplistic, but functional. They don’t need to be realistic, having used the latest Unreal engine. What they do is give you a nice colourful representation of what would generally happen if your Roomba went rogue!
Audio-wise, it’s adequate. As I’m sat here writing I honestly can’t remember much about the soundtrack. So that either means it was perfect, or that it was just ok.
Longevity
This is where Splatterbot falls down a little bit. There are trophies for playing a specific number of rounds, with the highest accolade being for 100 games. Out of all the people who have played it, there has been nobody who has played more than 45 games. Well, at least at the time of writing this. There are cosmetic extras, but these seem to get unlocked when you hit a specific number of games as well. Ranging from new trails to neat little masks or glasses that sit on top of your bot.
Unfortunately, unless you have young children looking for a few laughs, this game doesn’t have that much longevity at all. It’s fun while it lasts, but there’s nothing pulling you back in.
Final Thoughts
Splatterbot is a fun, while it lasts kind of game. Without much depth to the game modes and maps, it’s always going to be hard to recommend it. However, if you have young children who want a fun game for a short while. It might be exactly what you need. Hopefully, more maps get released and even a difficulty setting for the AI bots, just to make it slightly more challenging.
Splatterbot receives the Thumb Culture Bronze Award.
Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.
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