Buddy Bot: Slayer of Sadness Review
Price: FREE
Version Reviewed: 1.0
App Reviewed on: iPhone 5
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One of the reasons truly great mobile action games are few and far between is that nobody likes struggling with touch-screen controls. Game history (it exists!) has proven time and time again that we like to punch down buttons and slide our thumbs across elevated cross-pads. Nevertheless, mobile action game developers persist in finding a happy medium.
Buddy Bot: Slayer of Sadness offers up an interesting solution to mobile gaming's controller woes. In this Mega Man-inspired platformer, the main character constantly shoots while moving from left to right, leaving the player responsible solely for jumping. It's not a perfect answer, but Buddy Bot is still a robot pal that's fun to be with.
In true Mega Man fashion, Buddy can switch between a series of secondary weapons. The muffin bazooka is especially useful as it spreads fire in three directions and finally gives nasty bran-and-carrot muffins a real purpose.
Thanks to Buddy Bot's auto-movement, there's little agonizing over missed jumps. Players always move at a nice warm pace, and unlike most running games that blow up the player's head if they trip over a rock, Buddy Bot merely stops when he runs into an obstacle. He can take several hits before dying, and there's even a mercy shield that grants him an extra hit as long as it's charged. In other words, there's lots of wiggle room for any control-based mistakes that persist, which is very welcome.
Despite Buddy Bot's flawed visuals, it's still a fun platforming game with some solid blasting action and some weirdly memorable characters. Will the well-meaning doctor wise up to the error of his ways? It's worth sticking around long enough to find out.