So get this, all right? Someone actually walked up to me the other day, noticing my T-shirt for Shoot Many Robots, and asked, “Hmmm, what’s the game all about?” At which point I decided to break out into a descriptive that talked about an epic role playing quest and the game’s main hero, the aptly named P. Walter Tugnut, as he went looking for his princess across a land filled with turmoil and politics. Genius boy went, “Really?” To which I replied, “No, idiot, it’s Shoot Many Robots. YOU SHOOT ROBOTS.” But really, there is a little more to the game than just shooting robots, although fans of Contra and Metal Slug will feel right at home with the side-scrolling pattern it follows. Demiurge Studios, a small indie studio in Boston that previously helped tinker with Borderlands and Rock Band games before their release, have really come across a solid foundation with its first original effort.
As we stated, you play Tugnut, a heavily armed soldier who ramshackles around in a fully-packed RV as it roams across an open world. Chaos has struck in the form of an all-out robot invasion, and, well, you could reason with them, but the game’s called Shoot Many Robots, so obviously you’re taking the violent approach. Your job is to blast these bots to bits (like what we did there?) and collect lugnuts, which in turn can be used for currency in-between stages. You use this currency in a digital store, which is conveniently placed in the middle of your RV. Now, we’re not quite sure why your vehicle would charge you for power-ups, but just having them given to you would be too easy. The more nuts you collect, the better you’re able to power-up, enhancing Tugnut’s abilities, weapon selection, and accessories. Ever see a soldier fight for the fate of the world wearing a Viking helmet and a tutu? Well, that’s exactly what we did in the game’s demo – and after we were done laughing about it, we got down to the serious business of spilling some oil.
Shoot Many Robots does have a couple of elements that look like they’ve been lifted from Borderlands. Along with the currency system and the ability to upgrade your character, it also has a unique cel-shaded look that makes it stand out from other 2-D side-scrolling shooters, like Metal Slug and Hard Corps: Uprising before it. The levels themselves are fully 3-D, and scroll all the way into the distance. However, you’ll want to keep your eye on the foreground, as you’ll run into hordes of robots ready to take you apart. There’s quite a variety of droids in the game, including a nasty boss enemy that likes to shoot oil on the ground and then light everything aflame like the digital pyromaniac it is. But, like previous shooters, you simply have to learn the pattern and stay in one piece long enough to bring him down, then reap the hardware-related rewards that shower down afterwards.
Along with being able to fire all sorts of weapons, you can also switch between fixed (standing still and directing fire) or free (moving around and shooting in multiple directions) stances, use a melee attack to knock back an enemy that’s too close or deflect an incoming missile, doing super-jumps to reach rooftops and access hidden goodies, performing slide techniques to knock enemies off guard, and, once purchased, a gliding option, which lets you float over waves of robots while you blast them from above. The upgrade system is really quite fair, and there’s enough stuff to unlock here to warrant more than one play-through. As stated above, you’ll cruise around in an RV, selecting stages and occasionally revisiting stages to recover items you might have missed the first time around. It’s a nice open system, one that lets you head back for more trouble – and a higher score – if you’re feeling up to it. Demiurge is looking to keep the difficulty perfectly balanced, so it’s not too hard for the kids but still brings a monster of a game to those who can handle it. The end justifies the means, so to speak. Along with good looking graphics, a hard rocking soundtrack and decent voice effects, Shoot Many Robots should also feature some fun co-op elements, including options for Xbox Live. (Those are still being finalized.)
DLC is also very much a possibility, though Demiurge hasn’t quite confirmed all the details from that yet. We’d kill for some new outfits, like a bunny costume on Easter. Yeah! Perhaps the coolest thing the company can include, however, is a mode they showcased with the demo. In this mode, you stay in one room, but hundreds of droids come piling in, and you’ll need to obliterate them using a large amount of ammunition. This mode is not only great for practicing with the controls, but also for letting off steam after a rough day at the office. Have difficulty with that copier? Screw it, kill its cousins with a machine gun! Hopefully, Demiurge will consider including this mode in the final game. (Please?) Fans of Alien Hominid, Contra and Metal Slug should take note – Shoot Many Robots may be the next meal in your feast for crazy, over-the-top shooters. The action looks like it’ll hold up well, and the RPG elements should make this one stand out over others in the genre. We’ll see how the final game fares when it releases sometime later this year. In the meantime, the next person who asks me what Shoot Many Robots is all about, I’ll just mutter, “Figure it out” and be on my way. (Unless you’re a lovely lady, in which case…have I got a story for you.)
![[bye]](/images/smilies/nuevos2/adio.gif "adios")
