Robobeat is a rhythm-based first-person shooter that, like a couple of recent titles such as Metal: Hellsinger, combines fast-paced combat with a beat-matched shooting mechanic. You play as Ace, a bounty hunter who has been called on to find a cyborg named Frazzer, but that might not be the whole story.
To find your mark you zip through hundreds of fairly basic procedurally generated rooms packed with robots which you can destroy with one of the many guns found in the game. Each has waves of enemies as well as jump pads, spikes and other things that will do their best to drain your health. It’s like a procedurally generated Doom, but thee’s a rhythmic shooter element drizzled on top with the ability to choose the soundtrack that accompanies your rampage.
You’re graded on how close to the beat of the music you fire your weapons, trying to chain beats together and masting combos to lead to more effective and stylish combat sequences. Combining weapon attacks with movement abilities like the Hook can create powerful combos that deal significant damage to enemies. The mechanic for engaging the power-up combinations does take a while to master and in the heat of the battle it’s very easy to mess them up, but they are satisfying once you have a handle on the controls. During each run you may also get a chance to pick up cards which further enhance your skills by adding bonus effects like fire or reduced damage.
While the maps are procedurally generated you do get clues as to what the next room will hold so once you have cleared a room you can take a second to get your breath back and decide where to go next, more enemies or perhaps a detour to pick up a new weapon blueprint, or a new soundtrack. The game features a variety of ranged and melee weapons from the usual pistols and shotguns to the more esoteric choices such as [ing-pong bat and ball, each offering unique advantages and playstyles. I found the shotguns to be great fun.
In general, I do recommend you tweak the default values for the aim assist as this is incredibly strong and often had my camera swinging off wildly to track an enemy in the background, despite one already being in my sights.
For those who can’t dance, Robobeat offers the unique option of turning off the beat-matching mechanic and playing the game as a standard procedural shooter. This may seem counter to the point of the game but it does allow those without any sense of rhythm to play, which is a nice touch. You might find yourself heading to that option anyway, as the game does get rather difficult as you work your way through the levels. All your deaths will be your fault – there’s no nasty traps or silly game logic – but it does get incredibly frantic, especially during boss battles.
Unfortunately, the option to import your music which is found in the PC version is not available on PlayStation, so you are stuck with the in-game soundtracks which are mostly pounding EDM tunes with a few rock tracks thrown in for good measure. Personally. I found them to be all quite good, but if you’re not a dance music fan this may not be the game for you, at least on consoles.
There’s also an interesting story to uncover with notes scattered around explaining what has been going on, and glitchy videos seem to suggest an even bigger story. You don’t have to chase these, but it does add an extra layer to the game.
The least interesting part of Robobeat is its graphics. Everything is fairly blocky and the enemy designs are quite generic, however this is the work of one developer, Simon Fredholm, and he’s done a great job in everything else.