Remember those old space shooter arcade games like Xenon 2: Megablast or Space Invaders? Unravel those memories of endless enemy projectiles and chaotic explosions, but instead re-imagine them in a new light. A light where you aren’t drilling foes with spaceship missiles, but are determinedly sifting through space on a noble mission to restore renewable energy to humanity. Behold, Solbot: Energy Rush! Developed by indie team Freakout Games, Solbot is a colorful, retro arcade style game in which you play as a robot whose task is to collect orbs to provide energy for the universe.
Solbot’s unique features and game play ranging from vibrant graphics, funky upbeat tunes, and fast-paced, precision savvy levels make it an engaging game for players of all ages. And fun isn’t all the game offers to players. It strives to promote sustainability and information on how to decrease the hazards of climate change by providing facts from organizations such as Energy4Me. If that doesn’t get you interested, then it is crucial for you to know this game is totally free for Android and iOS devices!
Having been released a couple months back on July 14, 2018, the game has not received much publicity as of yet. That is why my mission as Diamondbot is to collect your interest with my review on this game.
Simple Yet Challenging
Initially, you are greeted by a Commander in a text-like format. He gives you your task, which you eagerly accept and you hop to it. Once you begin flying in space, tons of brightly, colorful orbs glide down your screen out of nowhere. The objective is simple: collect the orbs with golden rings around them and avoid the ones without. While the first few levels agilely fly by, the difficulty increases as the pace builds up and more obstacles are introduced.
Abruptly, orbs are teeming across the screen in closely compacted groups. Precision and timing are key here to avoid being exploded by harmful orbs. And while we’re on the topic of keys for a successful playthrough, you actually use ‘keys’ in-game to resume your game and achieve a higher score. There are 50 levels total, so the keys are a tremendous help to keep you from starting over the entire game after being 43 levels in!
Power-Ups Galore!
There are numerous diverse power-ups to make the game more fun. One in particular, the Magnet (my favorite one) automatically gathers nearby orbs. Another one slows down the speed so that you can easily dodge bad orbs and get a higher score. Since the amount of orbs you have to collect each round ranges from 20 to 50, these nice aids make the game much better.
Besides the power-ups, Solbot offers a bit of variation in its mechanics. Text dialogue with the commander opens up after completing so many levels. Another most notable feature is the ‘Avoid the lasers’ level, which is both fun and a bit nerve-wracking. While this offers some unpredictability in the game, there could be way much more power-ups and obstacles to spice it up even more.
Pop-Out Colors
The orbs vary hues in a gorgeous palette set. Mint greens, rich magenta, neon orange. The high resolution is captivating. Same goes for the bot whose color changes frequently also to match the orbs. Unfortunately, my complaints lie mainly within the graphics. The bot does not have depth. Concept art for the game shows him in much greater detail. I would have loved to see this take place in the game. Sadly, the bot looks lifeless without a face and intricate markings in its current game state. The background art leaves much to be desired as well. The stars may come off as a bit blurry, and the moon could have had more work done to make it stand out. It almost looks as if it were hurriedly painted and tossed in.
Only two different backgrounds in the gameplay hinder the games creativity since there are so many attributes of space. Lastly, the home page needs an entire rework. There’s no labels, or eye-popping material here to grab your interest. Fortunately, many other points in the game will grab your attention. All in all, the enticing color choice redeems many of the graphics’ flaws.
Groovy Retro Vibes
Low bass guitar riffs coupled with band drums, electric keyboards, and horns makes for an interesting piece. Solbot gives you more than just interest with its composition style. The music is cheery, retro nostalgic, and almost sassy. It urges you to be optimistic and finish your mission to the last level. I personally didn’t turn the volume down once throughout the hour and a half I played! Solbot’s music also relays an eerie futuristic sound, making it perfect for space and the game itself. I only wish there were more songs in game. Players only get to hear the 2: main menu and in-game. Repetitiveness and lack of variety are always an issue to watch out for especially when considering an audience. Nevertheless, the few songs featured are happy, good pieces you’d want to get up and dance to.
Play Continuously, Beat Your High Scores!Â
Once you finish 50 levels, the game ends and its mission is success! All your hard work of collecting orbs for a good cause pays off. But you don’t have to stop there. Solbot is easily re-playable. Since it keeps track of your scores, you can replay it to attain an even higher score. It’s a great game to pass the time! It also keeps a leaderboard score with all the highest achievers. You can strive to get your name to the top! Or maybe perfect your timing skills. Each level is randomized so no two playthroughs will be exactly the same. Even though it’s not multiplayer, it’s a pretty immersive game to compete against friends with. Simply compare your scores after playing to see who’s the best bot around!
Warning: Because there is such little variation in the game with levels, playing through multiple times may become repetitive after a while.
Final Thoughts
Overall, Solbot: Energy Rush is a cool indie game! Its decent graphics, optimistic tunes, helpful upgrades, and continuous levels make for an entertaining play. Having finished the game myself after dying repeatedly, I found the game to be almost addictive and enjoyed myself greatly. It’s a well done from me to Freakout Games. I have several suggestions on how the game could be even greater.
First, the levels NEED more variety. Collecting orbs and dodging lasers is sweet, but it becomes mundane after so many levels. New obstacles such as enemy spaceships would make things a lot more intense! Next, the graphics can really use a fine tuning. I want to connect with the bot and to do that I need to see his face clearly. Lastly, composing some more tunes to evoke other emotions besides upbeat would be nice. Like a scary beat to signify losing for instance. In the end, I truly liked the game and rate it a 7/10.
My high score was 17469 as Docto. Think you can keep up with me? Download the game yourself for free on the Google Play or iTunes store. And always be on the lookout for more riveting reviews at Culture of Gaming!
Solbot: Energy Rush is worth an immediate download! It’s strategic, colorful, and engaging content creates a very fun game to pass the time.
