Robocalypse

Nintendo exclusive

-- Robots with Attitude - Infuses madcap cartoon humor into the heat of battle by giving robots distinct attitudes and personalities. Over 10 distinct robot types with specialized skills and weapons

Released: 17 November 2008
Platforms: Nintendo DS
Genres: Real-time strategy Science Strategy
Developers: —
Publishers: Tecmo
Modes: Multiplayer Single-player
Perspective: Bird view / Isometric
Themes: Action Comedy Warfare
Age ratings: ESRB E10+

About

Robocalypse is a 2008 real-time strategy video game developed by Russian studio Vogster Entertainment and published by Tecmo for the Nintendo DS handheld video game console. It is the first of the Robocalypse duology and has only been released in North America. The project was led by Anton Kruglyakov and the story was written by Jay Lender and Micah Wright, former writers for animated TV series The Angry Beavers, SpongeBob SquarePants, and Phineas and Ferb. Players utilize the Nintendo DS' unique controls to build and command an army of robots to defeat an army of rogue robots determined to destroy humanity.

Upon release, the game was praised by critics and regarded to be one of the best RTS games for the Nintendo DS. An iOS port of the game was released nearly a year later, titled Robocalypse: Mobile Mayhem. A sequel,

Keywords

robots
management
real-time combat

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Robocalypse is controlled entirely with the stylus and touchscreen, with optional, supplemental button controls. The single-player campaign mode has 17 missions across four unique zones, each with different objectives to tackle, as well as optional side objectives, some which are hidden. Up to four players can battle against each other.

Story

At Thermidoom Labs, a robot factory, scientist Flaxen Hayer is bewildered to discover that her robots are sharing a product line with toasters. While nerd Myron Mako is discussing the factory's potential safety issues with his boss, an evil robot, Demolisher, suddenly emerges from the factory with a robot army intent on destroying the world. When Flaxen expresses skepticism of making a counter robot army, Myron reveals that he has a brain scanner and uses it on World War II veterans as a template for the intelligence of a new counter robot army, which they get to work making. The robot army enjoys some early success against the Demolisher's troops, before the battle shifts to a desert.

Despite great efforts, Myron's army is unable to stop the Demolisher from taking over a mine and stealing crucial fuel from oil wells at an oil field, but manages to secure an orphanage from enemy troops. Then Demolisher pursues the heroes across the desert to a safe house and kidnaps Flaxen before she can get inside. Efforts to rescue her as she lays imprisoned in a wooden cabin enable Demolisher to uncover and activate a secret nuclear missile silo to lay waste to much of the planet.

Development

Robocalypse was announced on January 22, 2008, by former SpongeBob SquarePants writer Jay Lender.

Reception

Robocalypse has received mostly positive reviews, with an aggregate score of 79.8% and 79 from GameRankings and Metacritic respectively. Daemon Hatfield of IGN awarded it the Editor's Choice in its review, exclaiming that he was glad to see a real-time strategy game made for the Nintendo DS, the genre being so well-suited for the system's touch controls and dual screens. He complimented its controls and AI. He also praised its humor, saying that he finds it to be truly unique. Mike Feinburg of GameSpot also praised it for its tight controls and humor, but described the AI as clumsy and frustrating.

Robocalypse was recognized by the KRI games development conference in Moscow as the best game for portable systems. It also received several Nintendo DS-specific nominations from IGN in their 2008 video game awards, including Best Strategy Game, Best New IP, and Most Innovative Design.