Frobot (demo)

Frobot is essentially an update of the Wii Play Tanks! game with puzzles and a funky fresh vibe. It involves a story centered around the afro-wearing, disco-dancing, ladies' ... robot attempting to rescue his 5 girlfriends who are hidden behind a variety of traps and robotic guards. The game plays up its '70s art and music style crossed with futuristic death robots to maximum effect. Whatever it is the developer was trying to do, they went all out to do it.

Prior interest: none

I really hate the style of Frobot, so assuming I'd heard of it before the demo announcement, I'd probably not have investigated far enough to discover that it's gameplay style is based on Tanks!, which I really enjoy. I get that it's supposed to be funny and there's nothing wrong with making humorous games, but I really don't like disco. Some people might and they might be attracted to the game, but I'm not.

Odds of purchase: none

For me the demo was sort of a mess. I couldn't follow the story that was exposed via off-putting, slangy dialog between Frobot and his girlfriends. The tutorial introduced a variety of weapons in a competent manner, but immediately they are removed (with more awful dialog) so the rest of the demo is played with just the main gun and mines. Sure it was cool to play with the advanced toys, but it felt like a waste to learn how to use an item that I'd never get to try again. When playing the first level, I did enjoy the puzzles but (probably because I started ignoring dialog) I didn't really know what the goal was. By the second level, I did grasp the goal, but I got stuck on a puzzle and after wandering all over and trying everything I knew how to do (several times), I gave up. When I tried to quit, the Wii locked up and I had to pull the power plug. Not a good impression.

I did find a demo for PC (and Mac), which were somewhat different than the WiiWare version. They retained some of the problems, such as the pointless weapons tutorial, but included more intuitive, yet still clever, puzzles. I wish the developer had just streamlined that version rather than doing something new for the Wii demo.