The Girl and the Robot was originally a kickstarter from some industry veterans to, and I quote from their campaign page:
"bring the thrill of classic games such as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Ico, and pair them with the sense of Wonder and adventure found in animated movies such as those from Studio Ghibli"
That's a pretty high bar they set themselves but as Oscar Wilde once said "Imitation is the greatest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness" and never have I played a game in which that was more applicable. If you want to play a game about two trapped companions seeking to escape their confines through puzzles in an enigmatic world, just play Ico.
The Girl and the Robot just doesn't do anything well. It floats between bad, mediocre and occasionally frustrating but simply never raises above that bar. Each of the titular characters has their own role to play. The girl can jump and crawl through spaces whilst the Robot can move heavy blocks and fight other robots. The puzzles are mostly fairly clear in what they require where the two get separated and have to work together to reunite to progress to the next area. The puzzles are mostly fine if fairly forgettable. Occasionally even mid puzzle the enemy Robots appear, if they reach the Girl the game ends instantly and this can be extremely annoying at times, especially in the awful maze section where the level design is an absolute mess.
Combat itself is the worst aspect of the game by far. The animations and inputs just feel so stiff or unresponsive. Enemies run at you and block constantly. You only have 3 options, a three hit sword combo, a bow or block with a shield. The easiest way by far is to just hold up your shield and block one attack then combo back and win. This is for every fight for the two or three enemy types and manages to be both boring and sometimes frustrating in narrow halls or getting stun locked to death in groups.
Th game is also incredibly short. I 100% it in 3 hours and ends on a cliff hanger ending saying "End of act 1" but there seems to be no sign the series will continue to get any sort of resolution to the brief amount of story and lore presented here. It doesn't matter though because aside from the lovely art (look at that front cover!) this game is just a forgettable and sometimes buggy imitation.
Disappointing.
"bring the thrill of classic games such as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Ico, and pair them with the sense of Wonder and adventure found in animated movies such as those from Studio Ghibli"
That's a pretty high bar they set themselves but as Oscar Wilde once said "Imitation is the greatest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness" and never have I played a game in which that was more applicable. If you want to play a game about two trapped companions seeking to escape their confines through puzzles in an enigmatic world, just play Ico.
The Girl and the Robot just doesn't do anything well. It floats between bad, mediocre and occasionally frustrating but simply never raises above that bar. Each of the titular characters has their own role to play. The girl can jump and crawl through spaces whilst the Robot can move heavy blocks and fight other robots. The puzzles are mostly fairly clear in what they require where the two get separated and have to work together to reunite to progress to the next area. The puzzles are mostly fine if fairly forgettable. Occasionally even mid puzzle the enemy Robots appear, if they reach the Girl the game ends instantly and this can be extremely annoying at times, especially in the awful maze section where the level design is an absolute mess.
Combat itself is the worst aspect of the game by far. The animations and inputs just feel so stiff or unresponsive. Enemies run at you and block constantly. You only have 3 options, a three hit sword combo, a bow or block with a shield. The easiest way by far is to just hold up your shield and block one attack then combo back and win. This is for every fight for the two or three enemy types and manages to be both boring and sometimes frustrating in narrow halls or getting stun locked to death in groups.
Th game is also incredibly short. I 100% it in 3 hours and ends on a cliff hanger ending saying "End of act 1" but there seems to be no sign the series will continue to get any sort of resolution to the brief amount of story and lore presented here. It doesn't matter though because aside from the lovely art (look at that front cover!) this game is just a forgettable and sometimes buggy imitation.
Disappointing.
2 Comments
@TheQuietGamer - This is exactly right. Unless reviews were glowing I wouldn't play a sequel anyway....
TheQuietGamer
1 year ago