– Advertisement –
It’s amazing how accurately I can pinpoint the moment that Robodunk sank its claws into me. I was about ten or so matches into the run and had levelled my bots up nicely. My main player – a skinny robot with the acceleration of Usain Bolt – had the ball. He’d cleared the other players and charged his jump to full. He rocketed up into the air and spun, preparing to dunk. Then, from the corner of the screen, an enemy player crashed into him, sending him careening to the ground.
I almost sprung from my seat. Where was the ref? Surely this wasn’t allowed. We were in space, dammit. See, it stuck out to me because I’m not usually one for sports. Basketball also doesn’t have much of a presence in this country. And yet, Robodunk got my blood boiling. In a good way, I mean. It’s a testament to how much a good core gameplay loop can hold up an otherwise simple game. Then again, simple doesn’t mean boring and Robodunk does have a few touches that make it feel, for the lack of a better word, cosy.
Come On And Slam
Granted, describing the core gameplay doesn’t make it sound very cosy. This is a world that’s piecing itself back together after a giant robotic war. Given the skills we use, this war was no doubt full of bullets, missiles, mines and giant terminator robots stomping on mechanical skulls. That war’s in the past though, so these robots have done the only logical thing – re-purpose themselves to have some sick basketball skills. So that’s Robodunk in a nutshell. Killer robots playing two-a-side basketball, with some roguelite spice on top.
Well, not exactly basketball. You don’t need to dribble, for one. More importantly, you can’t shoot. No three pointers for you. In this world, there is only dunk. Or ‘DUNK’ as Robodunk calls it. It actually works quite well. Once you’ve got the ball you need to get close to the net, so trying to break away is key. Matches quickly descend into violent madness as the ball ping-pongs between players until someone breaks free from the scrum. Moving and dunking is kept simple and it feels good to control. Ramming a player to make them lose possession, grabbing the ball and jumping for a dunk all flow together nicely.
For such a simple loop, there’s quite a level of tactics here. Mostly, this comes in through the vast selection of bots. You’ve got the skinny, speedy ones, the big lads, the ranged ones and so on. Part of the fun is finding a combo that works for you. I started off with one speedy lad and another who had a cannon, which worked for a while. Then I found a chap that can lay down turrets, and paired him with my speediest guy. It works well. Lay down a wall of turrets, pass to the speedy chap and off you go. With quite a range of skills (unique to each robot) and different temporary mods each round, things stay competitive throughout.
Running Rogue
There is one fly in the ointment, however. It’s a large, mechanical fly labelled ‘robots’. See, when you’re directing a basketball game from the sidelines, you need to be able to pick your guys out easily in a crowd. Robodunk‘s pulled back camera (don’t let the screenshots fool you, they’re zoomed in) and its giant, blocky characters make it difficult to tell who’s who when everyone’s slamming into each other. I also wish it wouldn’t snap control to whoever has the ball. As soon as your AI partner touches the ball, you control them – ready or not. Pinning down a co-op partner to play with you might be preferable. Though, as a dedicated lonely player, I did find it quite irritating that you can’t play it with the Switch controllers attached. No playing in bed for me.
Pair all this with the environmental hazards that sweep everyone together and you might as well flip a coin to decide who you’ll end up controlling. It did get me quite frustrated at times, though Robodunk does do some things to calm me down. For one, it brings in constant little snippets about the world. When you win a match, you get a snatch of plot about the world or one of the teams. Did you know the red team just see every other player as disposable fuel to power their dunks? It’s true. The robots also resemble little LEGO figures and you get to see the names of who designed them.
That’s what brings in the cosy feel. It honestly feels like a kid put together four robot toys and decided they were playing basketball now. Stuff like that helps to keep you moving past the defeats. Especially that one where the rival team scored with four seconds on the clock. Anyway, this brings me to the ancient roguelite issue: repetition. I’d say Robodunk can get a little repetitive, especially in the early game where every match plays out the same. You can skip them with a teleport, but then scooping up temporary mods is the best way to get an edge. Still, things get exciting after the first handful of matches.
For The Glory of DUNK
On the whole, I think Robodunk‘s simplicity works in its favour. The matches are short enough that the little annoyances don’t get in the way too much and the core gameplay loop is enough to keep you picking it back up. That said, I don’t think it’s a game that will stick with me too much. Each match is just a little too similar – though slightly more difficult. The different arenas do offer different challenges – as do the robots you face – but consecutive matches did start blending together. Dunking is really the only string to your bow, as the rather fanatical world building makes clear.
I think it’s a game to play for twenty minutes or so, then get on with doing the dishes. You’ll have a blast during those twenty minutes though. The highs of a good dunk are long-lasting ones, as is the frustration of your rivals hogging possession. Robodunk claims that it’s the first basketball roguelite. I don’t know if that’s true, but it’s at least proof that the two work together well, even if Robodunk doesn’t offer much beyond it. Still, we’ve had basketball-roguelite with Robodunk and basketball-visual novel with Pyre. It’s the basketball horror game that I’m looking forward to.
