Game Reviews

Rob-O-Tap

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Rob-O-Tap
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There's not much you can really do to vary the endless runner genre.

You can lob in all the collectible trinkets you want, add an RPG-like levelling system, make it 3D, and place the action in a brand new setting. It doesn't matter - you're still tapping to make a character jump over obstacles.

Rob-O-Tap attempts to invert the core control system entirely, but even then it doesn't feel particularly fresh.

Wires crossed

Rather than tapping to make your flying robot jump (or float) over obstacles, Rob-O-Tap has you tapping to move the obstacles out of the way of your flying robot.

Our cute automaton flies along a fixed path, but various barriers - both physical and electrical - stand in its way.

Every time you tap the screen, the objects on screen switch to their alternate state, which will either allow the robot through or else place it in direct danger.

It's the speed at which you have to handle these switches, as well as their erratic sequencing and your character's distractingly shifting flight path that provide the challenge here.

Tapped out

The trouble is, as we mentioned at the outset, this switch in approach doesn't really make Rob-O-Tap feel significantly fresher than the last generic endless runner you played.

In fact, without direct control over your character, it's arguable that it feels slightly less tactile and less involving than the last endless runner you played.

Credit should go to the developer for Rob-O-Tap's attractive, chunky 3D visuals, and for at least attempting something new in this oversaturated genre.

But really, if switching the core control system around isn't enough to reinvigorate our appreciation for the endless runner - and it isn't - we're not sure that anything will. Hopefully some plucky developer can prove us wrong.

Rob-O-Tap

by inverting its core principles, it somehow remains deeply overfamiliar and just a little dull
Score
Jon Mundy
Jon Mundy
Jon is a consummate expert in adventure, action, and sports games. Which is just as well, as in real life he's timid, lazy, and unfit. It's amazing how these things even themselves out.