Geekscape Games Reviews Awesomenauts!
With a name like Awesomenauts, you are setting a high bar of expectation that your game is going to be, well, awesome. Given that Ronimo Games developed Sword and Soldiers a few years back and that that game was really fun, I was willing to believe that the name accurately describes the game. After my time with Awesomenauts, looks like I was right!
Since this is a MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) game, the story is not really needed, but in short, you are a group of mercenaries hired to mine for Solar while trying to destroy the other factions Solar drill. Honestly, if I didn’t have friends that were into these style of games, I would be confused on how to actually play Awesomenauts. I have watched plenty of matches of my friends in Heroes of Newerth that I understood the basic concepts of what to do and not do. Essentially, the goal of MOBA games are to destroy the opponents base by taking out their towers that stand in your way. A.I. characters affectionately known as “creeps” help you in your teams push to get to their base. The strategy of MOBA’s is to know when to retreat. Getting killed is a bad thing since you will feed the other team money and experience that will make them stronger. Teamwork is a must in order to win. Going commando will just end in disappointment from your teammates.
It seems that in all the matches I have played so far, only 3 of them felt like the players on both teams knew what to do. Most of the times, I ended up in games where the victories were so lopsided, I never got to get past level 4. I’m not sure how many games of this genre have been released on consoles except for Monday Night Combat so I can’t blame the players all that much. This is a new concept to them and most haven’t figured the nuances yet. Ronimo Games put in a practice mode as well as a tutorial when you first start Awesomenauts to get new players to the genre a basic understanding of the game’s mechanics. Hopefully in a month after release, players will become more comfortable with it all. Until that time, I am going to use that to my advantage before I get crushed by better players.
I love the character class designs. Adding crazy names like Clunk, Voltar and Froggy G mixed with a cartoonish look brings those feelings of waking up early on Saturday morning to watch my favorite cartoons while eating a bowl of cereal rushing back. That put a big smile on my face. If only cartoons these days could still be that way. Depending on what class you pick, your style has to change with it. Obviously going with a healer class, you’re not going to be on the front lines. Usually grouping with one of your teammates and some creeps is the way to go. Picking the bruiser, you will be the front runner in taking out the towers and creeps. I went ahead into practice mode to get a better feel for the characters. This is a good idea since if the character you like is picked, you are familiar enough with another that is available to be a benefit to your team.
Starting off, only three characters are available to you with more unlocking as you level up. Leveling up is possible in practice mode which could both be a good thing and a bad thing. Good for unlocking some of the characters you want to play while learning the game, bad for unlocking more powerful upgrades before jumping into a real match. That could potentially turn people off from playing since they will feel like they can’t win. The truth is that as long as you have good teamwork and a good sense of when to attack and when to fall back, anyone can win.
I can see Awesomenauts being a great intro to MOBA games for the console crowd as well as a different and fun take on the genre for the veterans out there. Playing alone is fine but getting the game on a console your friends will play with you on is a way better experience. Just don’t blame Ronimo Games when you get the urge to watch all those old cartoons on Netflix after playing.
Editor’s Note: Ronimo Games developer Jasper Koning cheated Jonathan out of an Awesomenauts victory at E3 by using a Game Genie hack. He swears it to be true to this day! He WILL get his rematch! HE WILL!!!!
