Super Mega Ultra Battle Robot 2.0 (shooter)

Super Mega Ultra Battle Robot 2.0 by nerdook is a shooter game. As the name suggests, the player takes control of a robot to battle baddies. Each game is short and parts for the robot can be unlocked quickly, making this game one that is not very time consuming.

Just be glad it is not called Super Mega Ultra Robot Fighter.

As stated earlier, the player controls a robot to battle baddies. Defeating baddies gives points and increase the combo. A high combo increases the points awarded for defeating baddies.

Getting hit by red bullets or making contact with baddies depletes the robot's shield. The shield indicator is the size of the sphere around the robot. There will be a big warning if it runs out as the next hit would cost one HP. If the robot loses a HP, the combo is reduced by half. The game is over if the robot loses all its HP.

An interesting game mechanic is that the shield recharges when the robot is not firing its main weapons. This rule allows the robot to take some hits without any serious penalties. At the same time, it is not wise to continuously spam bullets while the shield is below optimum.

Waves of baddies keep appearing and after a certain set period, a boss will appear. Each boss has a shield and an amount of HP that increases with each boss defeated. The boss' HP may only be depleted when its shield is down. The shield goes down after a set period of time and comes up again when the boss is hit.

After each boss, increasing numbers of baddies will appear on screen, making it easier to increase the combo. It also potentially puts more red bullets on the screen.

The game does have a certain time limit as it ends after five bosses are defeated. The main aim is to score as many points during the short game time.

Is a flying submarine still a submarine?

The robot can be equipped with parts for the core, body, weapon and wing. Parts may give different types of attacks or help with defense. A few of them help with scoring. A number of parts, however, come with drawbacks.

Part of the fun is trying out different equipment and finding which ones work well with others.

Volcanis Weapon.

Volcanis puts bullets everywhere!

The baddies get random bonuses at the start of each game. These could make the game easier or difficult, and may influence the player's style of play during the game.

Baddies get random bonuses too.

The robot has a core ability, determined by the chosen core part. Collecting chips during the game gives points (but does not increase combo) and charges the power bar. When the power bar is full, it triggers the core ability. The core ability may be something that attacks the baddies or help with the score.

When a chip turns yellow, it means that it is about to disappear and should be collected soon.

Excalibur Weapon.

That's a baddie exploding.

Escaping baddies will increase the threat bar. When the threat bar is full, a battleship will appear. The battleship is really just a slightly tougher baddie worth bonus points. However, the bonus points is not worth the lost of opportunity to increase the combo count - lost when baddies are allowed to escape.

Dual Rippers Weapon.

"Booyah!" must be her favorite phrase.

Super Mega Ultra Battle Robot 2.0 is a short game that is high on action. It is not too addictive so it is easy to put down - a good game to play during breaks.

The dance music during the game is nice ("One Life Remaining", by Mattashi). I downloaded it for my listening pleasure. It is interesting to note that nerdook timed the game to make it likely that the second boss appears just after the part of the music that has the words "Round two, fight!".

Tinysasters 2 (puzzle)

Tinysasters 2: rise of the nexus by StormAlligator is a puzzle game where the player builds a civilization in a tiny disaster-prone world.

I am labeling this game as a puzzle rather than a construction/management game since it feels more like the former. The player has to think up solutions to achieve the outcome he/she desires and deal with continuously appearing challenges. On the other hand, the game field changes too often for any construction to be truly permanent. I cannot really consider this a construction game if anything I build can be destroyed in the next two minutes.

Tinysasters 2 is the polished version of the original Tinysasters, which was created from scratch within 48 hours for Ludum Dare 23 based on the theme 'Tiny World'. Tinysasters is a contraction of 'Tiny' and 'Disasters'.

The calm before the disaster.

The objective is to build a nexus (or more) to score points. Building and upgrading a nexus requires resources generated by buildings as well as the presence of certain terrain tiles. To get the required terrain tiles, some creative terraforming is necessary, which requires more resources. To complicate matters, there are regularly occurring disasters that change the layout of the land, endangering resource production and potentially messing with the requirements for upgrading the nexus.

At the start of the game, the player builds buildings to generate resources. Resources are used to build more buildings. Resources are also used to buy skills that help predict and manage disasters. In addition, there are passive skills that help resource production and active skills that modify terrain.

A few of the available skills.

The game's whole 12-level campaign is a huge tutorial to teach all the features of the game. Once the player has learned the game rules, there is the 'time attack' and the 'endless' game modes where the player may test his/her skills.

The game modes available.

Endless is a relaxed mode where the player may develop his civilization as he/she pleases, handling disasters along the way. Score is based on the total levels of all nexuses. There is no time limit so the player is free to advance as far as he/she wishes. The game does not save the civilization, though, so everything has to be started from scratch if the player leaves the game. The high score is saved, however.

Start of the time attack mode.

The time attack mode allows the player a short time of play in order to score as many points as possible. Building and upgrading nexuses early will give more points. Disasters will appear from time to time to complicate matters. This game mode is the true challenge of the game, requiring the player to decide the best way to upgrade nexuses the earliest while handling random complications.

Disasters will keep changing the landscape. Resource production has to be maintained. Buildings sometimes have to be sacrificed in order to meet the requirements of upgrading a nexus (or sometimes forced to be sacrificed because of a disaster). Time attack mode requires the player to adapt to new situations while deciding on the best way to proceed with the available resources.

Pressure would be unbearable if it were not for the pause button. Thankfully, during the pause, it is possible to give orders though no resources are generated and active skills will not cool down. The end of the allotted time brings relief and, if a good score is achieved, satisfaction.

A time attack in progress.

Tinysasters 2 is (to me) a puzzle game, requiring the player to adapt to situations and think of ways to achieve the outcome he/she desires. The tutorial is complete, making it easy to learn the rules of the game. Presentation is adequate, allowing the player to accurately understand the situation and make his/her move.

Tinysasters 2 is a worthy development from the original Tinysasters.