Roombo: First Blood

Genre: Stealth

Players: 1

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Review:

Roombo is a Stealth game that places you in the role of an overzealous automated robot vacuum cleaner that finds its home under attack by robbers and quickly determines that it must kill to protect its home… and then of course clean up the mess caused by its murderous rampage.

This is such a phenomenal concept for a game, my hat goes off to the developers at Samurai Punk for coming up with it. Heck, just the title alone was enough to convince me, “okay, I need to give this a try”. There’s a lot of potential for comedy here, and thankfully the game makes good use of it.

In a way, this game kinda’ plays out like Home Alone meets Skynet, with your tiny, underpowered device scurrying about the house like some sort of slasher movie villain just waiting for its prey to step into its next trap. The main way you’ll be shedding blood is by “hacking” into the household electronics, causing lethal malfunctions timed to hit the intruders while they pass by – overclock the fan to cause it to spin off of the ceiling and slice into a robber’s head, set off the sprinkler to cause someone to slip and fall, that sort of thing. A part of the joy of this game is trying out all of the different traps laid about the house to see how they unfold, and in some cases causing a train reaction as the distress of one burglar signals another, who can fall into your next trap.

If you’re spotted, you can easily be hunted down by the faster, stronger humans, and they only need three good kicks to take you down. However, after causing enough mayhem, you can also get a ramming attack (which I found to work very inconsistently, sorry to say).

After the robbers are dealt with, you’re given a limited amount of time to clean up as much of the mess as possible, with your clean-up and how well you protected the house both factored into your score for the level.

This game’s controls are a bit awkward. You rotate your puck-shaped vacuum, can go forward and backward, speed up, dash, and turn on “hacking” mode to select one of the electric devices in the area to sabotage. It’s understandable, given the way these devices move, but still a bit frustrating given the top-down isometric view the game uses. Also frustrating is how easily you can catch on furniture and objects in the environment – although again, this is kinda’ fitting for the theme of the game, I suppose.

These aren’t the game’s only flaws. This game is very short, being completed in under an hour, easily. Within that time, you’ll only ever be moving around in the one setting, with only the number and location of the invaders changing. This game is being sold at a budget price of $5, but even so, this lack of follow-through on a great concept with a lot of potential is disappointing.

As for the presentation, what’s here is simple but not bad. The rooms are distinctly-colored so you know where someone is when you get a picture-in-picture warning, and everything has a simplified, slightly-cartoonish style that works well for the tone of the game. The blood splatters here are wonderfully gratuitous. Also, while the game’s sound mostly isn’t especially noteworthy, I have to make mention of the nicely cheerful song that plays as you’re working to clean up the gallons of blood you’ve spilled.

All told, Roombo is a delightful Stealth game with a lot of potential, but also a lot of flaws. It’s devious fun while it lasts, but it’s not without its frustrations, it’s too short and too repetitive, and the controls are frustrating. Still, it’s one of the funnier games I’ve played in a while, and it’s unique enough to be deserving a look for those amused by its concept.

tl;dr – Roombo is a Stealth game that puts you in the role of one of those little automated vacuum devices that finds its home under attack by robbers and must slaughter the intruders and clean up the mess afterward. it’s an amazing concept, and it makes for a lot of hilarity, but it also controls a bit awkwardly, is repetitive, and is over very quickly (though the $5 price tag softens the blow of that last part a bit). This game is definitely worth a look, but it sadly falls short of its potential.

Grade: B-

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This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2019 Game Awards:

Runner-Up: Funniest Game

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