Game Reviews

Robot Unicorn Attack 2

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iOS
| Robot Unicorn Attack 2
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Robot Unicorn Attack 2
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iOS
| Robot Unicorn Attack 2

It's sad to hear that Adult Swim - the surrealist publisher that dreamt up games about mass extinction, floating corpses, amateur surgery, workplace suicide, and condo-eating monsters - has finally run out of ideas.

Because either the imagination well has run dry in Atlanta, or the studio really thought there was more to be said about gimmicky endless-runner Robot Unicorn Attack.

This one-note joke centres on a mechanised unicorn that runs through a pastel-pink dream galaxy, past rainbows, space whales, dolphins, and giant seahorses. It's like a little girl's pre-Bieber fantasies. But with robots.

Open your eyes

The core of the game hasn't been changed much between Robot Unicorn Attack and Robot Unicorn Attack 2. You still gallop across floating rocks, bound between platforms, and dash through hulking great star-shaped walls.

And the game still runs at a finely tuned pace, with those pleasingly mushy controls.

There are some new ideas in this sequel, of course. You can fly this time, for example, and you can customise your unicorn via a fancy new mane or horn. There are also a few enemies to pierce, but they're a rare sight.

Furthermore, the level layouts aren't randomised this time; instead, they change on a daily basis. It's an interesting idea: you can learn the exact layout of the platforms, pick-ups, and obstacles, but you only have a maximum of 24 hours to apply that knowledge.

It does, however, become quite repetitive if you play the game obsessively in one sitting.

I wanna be with you

Adult Swim has also put a vaguely inventive social spin on proceedings here. You get to choose between Team Inferno or Team Rainbow, and work towards common goals with your teammates. Winners receive in-game currency for their efforts.

But the biggest change Adult Swim has made to the Robot Unicorn Attack IP, perhaps, is to its business model. Yep, we're in free-to-play territory again.

Robot Unicorn Attack 2 has the exact same structure as PikPok's zombie dodger Into the Dead, complete with mini-objectives, boosts, currency, and ranks. Oh, and the coolest equipment is, of course, always kept at arm's length.

The free-to-play 'fairy' isn't obnoxious, but she's always there. Pestering you to pay for another stab at a failed run. Offering you the chance to bypass a tricky objective in exchange for a handful of coins.

Generally, though, you can expect to either grind or pay to see this sequel's best bits (like an ice world that I just don't have the patience or disposable income to ever unlock).

And make believe with you

Actually, scrap that. The biggest change Adult Swim has made is dropping British band Erasure's twee synthpop ballad 'Always' as the game's theme tune in favour of some phoney, faux '80s (but, admittedly, quite catchy) muzak from a bloke called Module.

You'll have to pay up for bona fide '80s songs like 'Always', the theme to The NeverEnding Story, and Slade's 'Run Runaway', I'm afraid. You can grab them for 69p / 99c a pop.

The original Robot Unicorn Attack always felt more gimmick than game, and dolling it up with currency, customisation, social features, and unlockable ranks doesn't do much to change that.

It's still a serviceable and enjoyable little endless-runner, sure, but the joke soon gets very old as you interminably chase objectives and grind your way towards unlocking more modes.

Robot Unicorn Attack 2

Robot Unicorn Attack didn't need a sequel, and it definitely didn't need grindy objectives, unlockable horns, and 69p songs. This sequel really chokes the life out of a chuckle-worthy joke
Score
Mark Brown
Mark Brown
Mark Brown is editor at large of Pocket Gamer