iTuesday review: Robot 99 for iPhone and iPad

The premise behind Robot 99 is bizarre to say the least. The back-story goes like this: “Robots live up in the clouds… Sometimes they might miss a step and accidently fall from the sky. Only your fingers can save them!” The game is played by tapping on falling robots. All of the robots have numbers on them, making it easy to keep track of how many have fallen. I would assume the robots stop after 99, but I never got quite that far. After you tap the robot, you drag them to a “Powerizona” ( I guess like Arizona, but with more power?) bar towards the top of the screen. This shoots the robot to the floor and then back up to the clouds from which it came from.

The game is a point-based game, with each robot you shoot back up to the heavens earning you points. By tapping on a robot multiple times you are able to gain extra points. Your score also rises based on the amount of time you keep the robot on the “Powerizona” bar. The game also supports multi-touch so you can go after multiple robots at once. Once you lose three robots, its game over (there are extra lives that can be scored)! Like I said, it’s a bit bizarre, but it’s actually the perfect type of game for the iPhone, particularly for the casual iPhone gamer. It involves a lot of quick thinking and quick tapping. It gets chaotic at points, as the robot rocketing back up to the sky will interfere with other robots that are falling.

My assumption upon starting the game was that it was just a typical point-based game where you compete against your own high score or friend’s scores to see who can achieve the highest score. Robot 99 actually takes it a step farther than that though.  There are actually nine different levels (with more “coming soon”). New levels are unlocked by reaching a certain number of points.  Each level brings new challenges like obstacles at the bottom of the screen and smaller (or moving) “Powerizona” bar

One thing that I didn’ t like is that the new levels can be unlocked by playing any level. For example, you could score 72,000 points on the first level only and unlock level nine. This means if there’s a level you are really terrible at you can skip it completely, which takes away part of the challenge of the game.

Robot 99 is available for $.99 via the App Store for both iPhone and iPad. If you think about it, that’s only a penny per robot. Seriously though, for a game with such an off-the-wall premise, it’s actually really fun and definitely worth a buck. The App is a universal app, so you don’t have to buy a separate version for iPhone and iPad (please note however – I only tested it on the iPhone).

 

Final Rating: 8/10

CBR Break Down:
Console Played On: iPhone 4
Approximate Time to Completion: a couple hours to complete all the current levels – repayable for hours to top high score.
Price Bought at: N/A Review copy provided by FU-Design
Recommend Purchase Price: $.99! It doesn’t get any lower!