Mini Reviews 2: Gato Roboto, Momo and the Mine
Two quick reviews for two quick games this time.
Gato Roboto
Gato Roboto is a simple metroidvania with interesting 2-bit (monochrome) graphics and some interesting gameplay mechanics. It’s clearly inspired by NES Metroid in its environment and setting, but instead of being dark and mysterious, it’s silly and lighthearted. The story makes absolutely no sense and is just an excuse for the game: a space marine receives a distress call from a nearby planet and goes to investigate, but the marine’s cat, Kiki, jumps on the keyboard and the ship crash lands. Stranded, he can’t get out of the ship, but the cat can. It’s up to you, controlling Kiki, to go and save your owner and get out of the planet. To do that, you take control of an armed robot suit, becoming Gato Roboto!
With the armored suit, which looks like Samus’ Power Armor, Kiki can shoot, jump and go places. It has a life bar and can withstand some hits from the various enemies in the game. Much like in Metroid, you’ll find upgrades like missiles and even a Screw Attack-like upgrade. The most interesting gameplay mechanic, however, is that you can get out of the robot suit and explore the environment as the cat. Kiki is fragile outside the suit, dying from any single hit, but is nimble and can climb walls, swim and pass through narrow spaces, which the suit can’t. That mechanic leads to some interesting simple puzzles and scenarios.
Even though the graphics are stylish, I felt sometimes it was a little hard knowing what were enemies and what was scenario, especially in the organic environments. I guess being monochromatic also makes it more difficult. I didn’t even hear much of the music in the game, it was very unremarkable. Also, although this is a metroidvania, it’s pretty linear and simple. There are a handful of different areas, but they’re mostly small and quick to traverse.
Overall, I felt this was kind of an uninspired game. It’s not bad and there are some cool platforming sections and challenges, but not much else. It was good for a quick platforming fix, I finished it in around 3 hours. I rate it 6 out of 10. If you like old school platformers, you’ll probably enjoy this.
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Details
- Name: Gato Roboto
- Genre: Metroidvania
- Developer: Doinksoft (Devolver Digital) ⤴
- Year: 2019
- Available on Steam ⤴, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One
Momo and the Mine
A Brazilian game! And it was made in Construct 3 I believe, the same engine me and my nephew are using to create our game ⤴.
Momo and the Mine is a very classic retro 2D platformer. You control Momo the mole, and you can jump and, most importantly, dig. You actually burrow into the ground and can move around while underground. This is the main gameplay gimmick since when you’re underground, you can pass through narrow passages that you can’t while you’re standing. You can’t attack enemies nor jump on them.
The game is divided in 4 sets of levels, with each level being a single screen. The goal of each level is to reach the exit while avoiding hazards and enemies. Some levels contain a matchstick that’s an optional collectible. After you clear all the levels in a set, you face a boss.
Levels start easy enough, but they get more challenging the further you go. It never reaches Super Meat Boy or Celeste levels of difficulty, but the later levels present a fair challenge. The mandatory ice world in particular can be quite frustrating, especially since the ice physics in this game are a little weird.
Bosses are interesting and offer a different kind of challenge. Since you can’t attack at all in this game, you basically have to outlive them. I liked the first and especially the fourth bosses, which are kind of a race, but the second and third ones I felt were kind of cheap. They’re basically big monsters which come at you in sinusoidal wave patterns (the worst!) and I died a lot to them, making their battles a slog.
Graphics are simple but pleasant, as is the music. It wasn’t remarkable, but it was energetic and pleasant and gets you through this short game. Momo controls fine, jumps feel good and the digging mechanic works nicely. However, since the game requires some tight movement in some places, sometimes it feels the control is a little slippery. Also, Momo’s hitbox feels kind of big, so trying to do precise movement with hazards around felt kind of cheap sometimes.
One minor inconvenience is that I couldn’t get my controller to work with this game, so I had to play on keyboard. I’m ok with that, but it shows the game wasn’t as polished as it could be (or maybe I’m the one at fault and couldn’t configure it properly). There’s not much variety to the levels, they’re all single screens so it’s hard to do something too different with the game’s limited mechanics. Also, it’s very, very short, I finished it in around 1 hour.
I’d give this a 5.5 out of 10. It’s nice and simple, but perhaps too simple and a little rough around the edges.
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Details
- Name: Momo and the Mine
- Genre: Platformer
- Developer: Tamboril Studio ⤴
- Year: 2024
- Available on Steam ⤴