Roboto Review (iOS)

When I boot up Roboto I'm always taken by how it looks. The cel-shaded graphics look great, and the excellent character design makes the titular robot a memorable hero. But when Roboto gets rolling (or skating, as the case may be), my good feelings start to wane, eventually turning into apathy. Roboto does little to stand out as a platformer, with repetitious levels that undermine the obvious love put into Roboto's art direction.

Roboto (the character) is a robot skateboarder with a simple goal: skate through 30 perilous stages, collect gold gears, and get out unscathed. Along the way he'll slay evil robots, and have to do some precision platforming. Additional twists mix up levels, such as sections with reversed gravity, or speed ramps that allow you to make huge jumps. The problem comes from lazy level design. After introducing a good idea, such as reversing gravity, you can expect to do this ad nauseam in almost every other level. Great platforming games such as the Mario series know how to break up levels with a wide array of obstructions and interactive points, but Roboto just chucks it all together in only slightly different variations.

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