LogFAQs > #966134520

Gato Roboto

This was a cute little game, heavily inspired by, and made to look like, classic game boy games, right down to monochrome graphics. And clocking in (for me) at just about 3 hours, it was clearly inspired by the bite-size feel of many of those games as well.

you play as a cat, who is helpless and dies in one hit, that for most of the game pilots a mech (that is not helpless and takes several hits).

i thought this was a very tightly designed Metroidvania, less focused on overall inter connectivity but instead having 5ish distinct areas connected by a central hub. Each area manages to feel unique despite the very simple graphics, although the goals are very similar in each one (typically trigger a series of switches that allow you to progress in the area, fight a boss and get a new move, use new move to access the next area)

but since it was such a short game, nothing felt repetitive, and the levels wrapped around onto themselves revealing shortcuts in creative ways. The helplessness of the cat character also plays into the design, as there are several areas where you must leave the mech to access small passageways or climb walls. These areas ramp up the challenge and tension (as stated before, you die in one hit) but never feel cheap as save locations are generously placed throughout the levels

There are quite a few boss fights, impressive considering the small size of the game, and they are generally varied with multiple phases, although I did find a couple of them to be far more frustrating than the rest of the game. For several of them they seemed to just default to projectile spam, or making you juggle too many things at once (dodge fireballs while jumping between small platforms over lava and dashing past lasers!). Overall though they were good.

i dont have any other major complaints, though its hard to rate this too high as the short length of it made it feel somewhat slight. The game ramps up right away without much story or tutorial time, and before you know it its done. There are a decent number of hidden collectibles that someone extend the experience (my 3 hour run as collecting all of them; you could probably complete the game in far less time)

but its a cheap game, well made with smooth controls and great while it lasted, and an easy recommend at the low price it costs ($8I got it on sale for $4)

7/10