Whether you like it or not, the gaming industry is changing.
Things like the App Store are forcing publishers and developers alike to rethink their ways
of doing business.
In fact, within the next decade, gaming consoles as we know them could follow in the footsteps
of the beeper, the floppy disk and the Walkman.
Yes, kids.
Those were real things.
You can’t stop it.
Trust me, I’m in the trenches fighting for things like physical media,
but it’s a war we’re going to lose.
But there’s a snag with the crippling blow iOS devices have dealt to dedicated consoles.
Try as Apple might, some games still need more than touch and tilt.
Consoles still have that edge—for however long—and in this case, those benefits are
very clear.
Robo Rush would be incredible...if I could play it with a d-pad.
Now, that’s not to say this isn’t a great game.
In fact, Robo Rush is one of my favorite free games ever released in the App Store.
It won me over the moment I saw it, but the problem is that while I’m playing it, I
can’t help but think the hardware is getting in the way.
I can’t help but think, “Man, if only I could play this with a controller.”
Robo Rush is a traditional 2D platformer with very obvious influences.
If you put the characters and enviroments of Wall-E into the levels of Super Mario Bros.
with the silhouette graphics of Donkey Kong Country Returns, you’d get Robo Rush.
It sounds awesome, and that’s because it is.
But perhaps the most prevalent of those influences is Mario.
In fact, Robo Rush often uses exact level layouts from Nintendo’s groundbreaking NES
classic, not to mention a few familiar items and foes.
Goombas have been turned into robots.
Mushrooms have become batteries.
It’s a brilliant homage to a masterpiece, and it’s got more than enough of its own
style to make the experience feel fresh.
As pretty as the style is, its real brilliance is in the contrast to the source material.
The dark, industrial worlds of Robo Rush are something you’d never see within the borders
of the Mushroom Kingdom, and that makes the game even more interesting.
So as you can tell, I absolutely love Robo Rush, and if for the concept alone, this is
without a doubt one of my favorite App Store platformers.
The problem is the App Store platformer itself.
There have been a lot of different methods attempted over the years, but a good ol’
fashioned d-pad remains the optimal choice for running, jumping and stomping.
Using a slider on a touch screen?
Eh, not so much.
And unfortunately, that’s where Robo Rush’s bolts come a bit loose.
You play, as you can see, by dragging your thumb or finger across a slider.
The problem with this is, as always, the lack of something tangible.
You can feel the d-pad, so you know where you’re going.
You can keep your eye on the game, and you can feel the character’s movement.
There’s almost a physical connection between you and Mario that makes controlling him almost
unconscious, in a sense.
It just happens.
That’s not the case with Robo Rush.
Frustration will abound because, as amazing as the other aspects of the game are, playing
it is a lot more difficult than it should be.
iOS devices are changing the business, and for good reasons.
But until someone figures out how to platform without a d-pad, even spectacular ideas like
Robo Rush are destined to control like a bucket of bolts.