Posted: August 14, 2012
My son is really into League of Legends. He eats that stuff up pretty hardcore. Over the
last few years I've made a concerted effort to join him in this game only to
come to the realization that I'm simply not cut out for the "learn by humilating
defeat" style of play. I wanted to try and find something that would
appeal to his tastes but also cater to me. Imagine my surprise when I find a
game that could do just that. Enter Awesomenauts!
Story
The year is
3587. Conflict spans the stars as huge robot armies are locked in an enduring
stalemate. In their bid for galactic supremacy, they call upon the most
powerful group of mercenaries in the universe: the Awesomenauts! It’s an MOBA,
(Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) fitted into the form of an accessible 3-on-3
action platformer.
If I were to
describe Awesomenauts I would say it
is a mixture of Super Smash Bros. and
League of Legends with a 80’s
Saturday morning action cartoon vibe. You form two teams of 3, pick your
mercenary, and compete to destroy the other team's base.
Story 8/10
Gameplay
Each mercenary has two class special abilities, a basic
attack, and a jump skill. During the match you can obtain little silver and
gold cubes called solar to purchase upgrades to these skills and statistics
such as health and rate of fire.
One of the features that help make Awesomenauts stand out from its MOBA cousins is the loadout
feature. As you level up, you can unlock additional upgrades for each class’s
special abilities. During the initial class pick phase, you can also choose 3
upgrades to bring with you each match. This is an amazing feature which makes
up for the limited amount of class choices.
Matches feel balanced yet challenging. Having played League of Legends, I feel the learning
curve in Awesomenauts is equal to the
average player’s abilities. One thing I did notice about Romino Game’s
platformer, is that combat in matches has a decidedly beat-em-up feel to it
reminiscent of Super Smash Bros. fast
paced chaos. It encourages you to get in there and brawl without much fear of
the repercussions, i.e. dying. Additionally matches last between 15 and 20
minutes, allowing for more games per hour to improve your skills on and level
up.
Gameplay 8/10
Presentation
Awesomenauts does a fantastic job with the game's artwork
and sound. The character models and backgrounds really capture the action
cartoon combat styles of the 80s, which was a clear inspiration. Character
classes vary from the hip-hop Foggy G to the Mega-Man-on-steroids Clunk, each
sporting a unique design and set of animations. The music and sound effects not
only sound great, but they also have a function in the game. For example, when
you play as Froggy G and he starts a killing spree, you can hear his rap song
play in the background. This caused me to get just a little more amped about continuing
the streak I was on.
Presentation 9/10
Overall
Awesomenauts was
designed to draw in gamers who prefer the MOBA concept so popular in today’s
market but prefer the brawl-stylings of classics. If you fall into this
category, you'll adore Awesomenauts.
The only concern that I would have for the game's future is
one that plagues so many other MOBA titles: New character classes. After
unlocking all the characters and playing with them for a while, I could see how
the game could become stale overtime. However, even as we speak a patch is
being deployed to add a new character so it would seem that Ronimo Games has
risen to the challenge.
Awesomenauts 8/10
Game Info
Platform: Xbox Live Arcade, PSN, PC
ESRB: T
ESRB: T
Publisher: dtp Entertainment
Developer: Ronimo Games
Release Date: May 2, 2012
Christopher Brimmer doesn't just write for HalfReal Review ya' know! Be sure to check out his site NoobSource.com where he writes not just game reviews, but board game reviews too! 
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