Trover Saves the Universe Review – Surreal Space Odyssey

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If you’re familiar with Rick and Morty, Accounting or anything else by the extremely talented Justin Roiland, then you know exactly what to expect from Trover Saves the Universe: a crazy nonsensical adventure. 

As soon as the game starts, a giant Abstainer named Glorkon steals your puppies and inserts them into his eyeballs in order to destroy the universe. As a result of this, you befriend Trover, and together you have the task of hunting down the psychopath in order to save the universe and more importantly, your puppies.

From that paragraph alone, you should know whether or not this is the type of game for you.

A game that starts weird and quickly turns bizarre!

At the forefront of the game is the humour. Trover and the range of bizarre secondary characters’ ad libbing will keep you laughing, chuckling and sniggering throughout your time with the game.

The game features a censored mode but it is much more fun with this option turned off. Hearing the cast insult one another or go on a tangent about genitalia is endlessly entertaining and removing that would stifle the enjoyment. Also, in typical Rick and Morty fashion, the game is self-aware, breaking the 4th wall on many occasions. This adds to the absurdity of the game and will make fans of Roiland feel at home.

The combat is not as exciting as this image makes it look

Gameplay

Unfortunately, the gameplay of Trover Saves the Universe is typical and lacks the originality of the premise. The combat is basic and revolves around mashing a couple of buttons and evading the odd attack. There are different enemy types but you tend to tackle these in very much the same way, making the combat repetitive.

On top of this, there are puzzle sections. The dialogue at these moments are fantastic; Trover tends to either comment on video game tropes in a hilarious manner or explore his unnerving psyche. The dialogue does help take away from the tedium of the puzzles, as most of them involve moving blocks from A to B.

Finally the game’s platforming sections are hindered due to the camera. The game was obviously designed for VR and is jarring when playing on the screen. The camera is fixed from the Chairtopian’s point of view, you can control the height of the camera but you have to teleport to points on the map to move the camera forward. Although I can imagine this working well in VR, without it, the game feels awkward.

Graphics

The game’s design is full of charm. The characters look odd and the environments are gruesome but these combine to create a world worth visiting. Some people may be put off by the cartoon, almost PS2 era graphically style but this juxtaposes with the adult humour enhancing the odd nature of the game.

A face only a blind mother could love

Audio

The dialogue is brilliant and carries the game. The voice acting has that patented Roiland improvised style which amplifies the ridiculousness of the comedic lines and will also give a sense of familiarity due to the style being a staple in his work.

I did encounter a few bugs with the audio whilst playing. At times the audio cut out or the dialogue repeated instantaneously. However, these were small isolated incidents that didn’t take away from the overall enjoyment.

Mr Popup’s banter is a highlight in the game

Longevity

Weighing in at about 5 hours in length, the game is pretty short on content for the hefty price of £22.49. There are collectibles in each world but if you don’t collect them on your first run, I can’t imagine you wanting to go back due to the core gameplay being mediocre.

Conclusion

Although the combat was quite dull and the puzzles were basic. I really enjoyed my time on Trover Saves the Universe, The game nails the humour. Due to this, I played the game with a permanent smile plastered across my face. It’s a flawed game but it’s fun romp in a dark, demented world and due to this, I give the game a Thumb Culture Silver Award.

Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.

This article was written by Jaz Sagoo

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