Mr. Robot hauls cargo, and delivers!
-- Overview --
The game starts out fairly innocently enough. The central computer system (appropriately named "HEL") on board the starship "Eidolon" begins ordering you about immediately, sending you off on this or that errand, and giving you the opportunity to learn more about the game mechanics and controls.
At any given time you are playing in one of two "worlds". The real world onboard the starship, and the cyberworld within the ship's systems and other bots brains. While in the real world, you'll find yourself pushing buttons, boxes and baddies in an effort to travel from room to room. Think "Lolo" with a sci-fi spin and a revved up graphics engine.
On the cyber side of things, you become the ghost in the machine, travel from this computer component to that one, taking out troublemakers along the way. As you progress, you meet new friends who join you in your quest, and stand beside you in battle.
The storyline is fairly well developed, moreso than expected, and the dialogue is well written and drives things along nicely without getting in the way. As the game's beginning plays out, the robots begin to realize all is not well on starship "Eidolon", as HEL has been behaving strangely. This eventually results in your disobeying direct orders and forcing you on an adventure that will determine the futures of both bots and humans.
It should be mentioned that Mr. Robot also includes an editor to build your own game worlds, which can be shared with others. There's also an online leaderboard accessible in-game.
-- Gameplay --
Though a combination of many different genres, this game incorporates them all with gusto and panache. On the puzzle side of things, pushing boxes and operating buttons proves challenging enough, but not too difficult. The environments are large and complex in many cases, but there are enough unique elements to these puzzles that they don't become repetetive.
There is a wide variety of enemies on board the ship, all of which behave in a certain way. Enemies generally cannot be destroyed directly, but instead you have the ability to hack into them, entering their own personal cyber-brain to destroy them from within. This is a very useful tool when you find yourself in a room where just one or two less enemies could really help you out.
Which brings us to the flip side of the real world of starship "Eidolon", the cyberworld within bots and the ship itself. From early on, you begin hacking into bots and ship systems, and you begin learning about the RPG elements included within Mr. Robot.
When in any given cyberworld, you are a ghost in the machine. Your ghost can be equipped with a weapon and defensive programs to help combat those enemies within the machine. There are 5 different bot types, and therefore five different ghosts, each with their own unique set of stats, programs and abilities. You collect items you can use against the enemy, or for supporting and healing your group, which are accessible both in battle and out. The variety of enemies in the machines is, unfortunately, lacking, and the battles do become somewhat repetitive over time.
It should be said that while the RPG aspects are relatively strong within Mr. Robot, it is likely true RPG fans will find the system weaker than they'd like. But this does depend on the gamer, and most will find the overall mix of genres within the game helps diminish any weaknesses that might be found within either the puzzles or the roleplaying.
-- Graphics & Sound --
The graphics within Mr. Robot are excellent. The effects in battle are attractive and various, and the characters themselves are well-designed too. A wide range of textures helps create several different environments on board the ship, and these textures looked great no matter the resolution. Mr. Robot supports resolutions from 640x480 through 1920x1200. Yes, Mr. Robot supports high-res widescreen monitors, which made me a happy gamer.
The sound is both excellent and mediocre. The effects are well done overall, both in battle and in puzzles. However, the music is heavily lacking. There's only one track that loops continuously while on the ship, and then a couple other tracks that play while your hacking. The music could have been much more variable, stronger, and in the end is the weakest aspect of Mr. Robot.
-- Conclusion --
For an independent developer, Moonpod Games has done a great job of pulling several different game aspects together to create an overall package that is ultimately unique.
Though it has its weaknesses, there's a little something for everyone in Mr. Robot, and I encourage gamers to give the demo a try for the sake of supporting Moonpod in their development endeavours.