Day 70: Ultratron

So impressed was I with Puppy Games' reimagining of Space Invaders that I decided to try their take on Robotron. I did. I was disappointed. Ultratron misses the mark in just about every way imaginable. Yes, you still have to destroy swarms of robots and yes you can still walk in one direction while shooting in another thanks to the keyboard/mouse control combination which works but not as instinctively as the double joystick configuration.


Rather than appear all at once, enemy waves appear a few robots at a time. Even in the higher levels this allows you to stay relatively in control of the situation. In fact, the only times I ever really felt in danger were the times I lost track of the position of my mouse in relation to the screen. Again, this is where dual joystick control wold have come in handy.

The only reason I find myself returning to Ultratron is to make sure I didn't miss something. Is there an option to play with a control pad? Can't find one. Is the human family there and I just didn't recognize them? Doesn't look like it. Like Titan Attacks, Ultratron has a very cool retro look, it just doesn't have cool retro game play to go along with it.