Toy Bot Diaries Entry 1

Developer: IUGO Mobile Entertainment Inc.
Price: $3.99
Version Reviewed: 1.0

Graphics / Sound [rating:5/5]
Game Controls [rating:4/5]
Re-use / Replay Value [rating:3/5]
Overall Rating:

Toy Bot Diaries Entry 1 is a very well designed hybrid puzzle / platform game that is joyful to play at times and maddening at others. But overall it's a great value and an easy recommendation as it should appeal to most everyone.

This game starts out, it seems by design, as somewhat of a mystery. There is not any help available, your mission is to figure out what you are playing. Your robot in this game is seeking memories, trying to figure out where he is and where he came from. You do this by gathering what look like cell phones in the game. Every 5 you find you regain a memory. Once you have all of the memories, they will tell a story.

The puzzles in this game are interesting though initially fairly simple, they do increase in difficulty. The simple puzzles give way to ones where timing and position are important. As you progress through the levels you will pass blue lights, these are your save points. It's possible in many of the later puzzles to get caught in a position where you can't complete the level. When that happens you have to go back to the previous save point.

Graphics / Sound [rating:5/5]

The graphics and sound in this game are very well done. From the fantastic illustrations to the music, this game is nice to look at and listen to.

Game Controls [rating:4/5]

There are two main control systems used in the game. The accelerometer is used to move your robot from left and right and is fairly easy to use. The more difficult to master controls have to do with your tractor beam and magnetic feet. The tractor beam us used by touching where you want to connect -- you can only connect with metal. You hold this touch to contract the connection. You click away from the beam to disconnect. Your magnetic feet are turned on and off by touching your robot. When on, your feet are green to indicate that they are magnetic. When on, your magnetic feet will attach you to any metal they connect with.

Overall the controls work fairly well, the only issues have to do with the small screen. This can make any fine control of the tractor beam placement difficult. Luckily there are not any time constraints in this game so you can reposition and retry as many times as needed.

Re-use / Replay Value [rating:3/5]

Overall this game is fairly short -- maybe a total of 2 hours playtime going straight through. But for the type and price of this game it seems reasonable. There are a couple things that might keep you coming back to play more after completion, but in general this is a game that you play through and are done with it. It seems, due to the Entry 1 part of the name, that we will have multiple versions of this game to look forward to.

Here's a video that shows the first, introductory level. It gives you a good idea of the controls and the quality of the game.

[youtube lAKUW0C79iU]

Overall Rating:

Overall, this is a fantastic game. The developers have put a lot of thought into the game and ended up with a game that is uniquely iPhone OS. While the controls take a little time to get used to, they are intuitive enough and easy to adapt to. Personally I don't think that I'll be going back to this game after finishing, but I am really looking forward to further entries in this game. Highly recommended.