Space Bob vs. The Replicons Reviews

Loved lunar lander as a kid so this scratches a certain itch. The rest of it is okay. Got my money's worth out of it.

This game is the third game in the Lunar Lander series; 1. Lunar Lander (Arcade) 2. Solar Jetman (NES) 3. This game right here! (Props to the comments here that told me the name of Solar Jetman because I've been trying to remember that game's name FOREVER) I mean this in the form of Spiritual Successor. This game just nails the niche of the genre so well that it deserves to be known WAY MORE than it is... This game isn't exactly like the other two in the form of linear gameplay. This is 100% a roguelike game that you can enjoy countless times while not even gaining progression. I want to point out that I am TERRIBLE at this game. I can't seem to get the controls completely down. I crash into everything. I constantly grab the wrong objects. I can't aim to save my life. I switched to a controller to try to get better, and the zoom function is connected to a very vital control of aiming with the right joystick... and it kills me so often because of it. Even after saying that, I still love this game. This is a very rare form of discovery into grind that takes the troupe of "1 more try" to the extreme with each run potentially taking hours to complete. The only problem with this game is that you can stumble into planet after planet that doesn't help your progress because of the lack of resources (levels seem intentionally scarce or procedurally generated), and that doesn't feel fair in the slightest. Sure, you can grab landscapes like rocks/stalactites(stalagmites) and gain resources from it, and you can destroy/capture enemies for some as well, but it doesn't make up for the amount of resources used to gather them. It feels like rolling the dice when deciding on which new planet is a good idea. Yes, this is the reality even with the descriptions available for each planet. I know this jumbled mess of a review isn't normal for me, but that's because I don't have normal things to say about this game. I bought it on sale for like $4 or something like that, and I feel like I didn't spend enough to play this game. This game would definitely be on my list of "Top Hidden Gems on Steam"... I might actually make that just to showcase this wonderful game. Thanks for the great game with tons of replay value!

I wish I enjoyed this as much as the others who reviewed this game, but I really didn't see any of the positive aspects of those reviews in my time playing the game. To start with, you'll have to remap some controls, because the dev put controls in seemingly random locations on the keyboard aside from basic movement. Then you are thrown into a tutorial with no urgency before starting a mission where you are told you pretty much have an hour to live, good luck. If that's not enough, you are meant to search planets for resources to keep your ship running/your guy alive, but by the 20 minute mark it's impossible to land on a planet without being overrun by spiders and wasps. Maybe I was very unlucky, or maybe I was just missing some crucial information but this game seems like it might need some more work before it's worth buying. I got it at a 75% discount and will still be returning it because I have no desire to play it in this state.

Very fun little game that I can't stop playing. You've got combat, spaceflight, crafting, some survival, and exploration all at your fingertips. I love exploring the caves, loading up my lander with as much stuff as it can possibly carry, and slowly making it back up to the refinery ship. [strike]Unloading can be a chore sometimes, but just that's part of bringing back too much loot.[/strike] [i]Update: I missed the part in the tutorial saying you can use down on the D-pad or X on the keyboard to manually disconnect the loot from your ship. This resolves my unloading problems. Thanks to the dev for helping me out there![/i] The story mode was a little too tough for me on my first game while learning the controls and all that. A few hours in the less stressful exploration mode got that all straightened out though. The dev seems very engaged with the community, so I have high hopes for this one improving while in early access. Highly recommended to anyone who likes space games.

The premise of the game is cool enough, but the difficulty level is through the roof. Enjoyable if just a tad frustrating. It doesn't help that the controls seem unfamiliar at first and will take a lot of time to get used to - by which time I suspect that most players would have shrugged their shoulders and moved on to something else. Recommended only to roguelike diehards. 7/10

I'm not typically moved to write reviews, because ultimately, who cares what I think? Enjoyment of any game is totally subjective, so the reviews around this one could well all read: "Worst game ever - refunded", but for what it's worth, here are my thoughts... Space Bob is an engaging, challenging, physics-based sandbox puzzle game that continues to reward your investment of time many tens of hours in. The controls may feel a tad unfamiliar at first, but persevere and you'll soon see your skills improving with every fight and salvage run. As you discover new resources, biomes and threats you'll develop strategies for dealing with them, particularly for recovering salvage from the deeper cave systems. There are many environmental hazards that can be perilous if not respected, especially when encountered in conjunction with the sudden appearance of Replicons. The Replicons themselves will pursue Bob if nearby and can be somewhat troublesome, but can be avoided with practice and rarely do their numbers prevent Bob from achieving his current goal. Bob's main focus will tend to be the efficient acquisition of fuel, energy and the materials required for his upgrades. How you collect these resources is where the game shines most - the grapple gun. The grapples it fires are effectively lengths of cable that can be used to connect Bob to things, those things to other things, and so on. Once connected, the length of each grapple can be extended or retracted to move Bob or those other things around, and this is tremendous fun. Dragging an enormous grapple-chain of salvaged resources back to the refinery ship with Bob's lander can be tricky, as the weight and inertia of the chained objects will drag the lander around if not sensibly balanced. Control of the lander can be improved by carrying less weight, better distribution of the weight and/or upgrading the lander's thrusters. I could go on, but TLDR is getting dangerously close, and one of the many joys of this game is in discovering these things for yourself. If the above hasn't already garnered your interest then this probably isn't your cup of tea, but for those of you still reading, I'll close with a few further thoughts... My time to date has been spent at Normal difficulty, in which resources are relatively plentiful and damage levels are not devastating. Once I've finished my current Survival run, I'm going to start another at the next highest difficulty, where resources are scarce and incoming damage is doubled. The game can be as relaxing or as hardcore as you want it to be. The graphics are noteworthy: friendly, robust and welcoming - Bob's universe is a pleasant place in which to spend time. And to enjoy those graphics, the game offers the widest range of zoom I think I've ever experienced in a 2D game. I often find myself zooming right out when flying and right in when exploring. Lastly, and for those of a certain generation, Space Bob will likely evoke memories of Thrust and Exile on the BBC Model B and Jetpac on the ZX Spectrum, but brought right up-to-date. Nostalgia was enough to get me playing, but Space Bob has kept me playing.

This is a great little game. Part No Man's Sky, part Gravitar, with rogue-like elements. I have a very soft spot for 2D sandbox games and this one really rings all my bells. It's slow-paced at times, but this complements the intense action and gives you a nice breather from the moment when you are zipping around neon caves killing bad guys. I thoroughly recommend this game.

This is such an awesome game. I felt so proud of myself dragging a fusion core to my refinery ship on my very first planet. It was so heavy, my ship could not handle it. Thankfully, the grappling gun is incredibly useful at gluing basically anything to any surface, it really comes in handy. It's not a difficult game by any means, but feats such as this really makes it shine to me. There are no cons, no clunkiness, nothing. It's perfect in the areas of what it is trying to achieve.

TL;DR: Space Bob is a tribute to good ol' lunar lander, but with a few nice twists. Your goal is to harvest all kind of resources from the planet surface and transport them to your mother ship. The gameplay mostly revolves around solving various logistic problems: how to gather and transport heavy objects using your lander and grappling hooks. Anything that fits into mothership's dock can be salvaged. Anything. That also includes your enemies and a few other environmental hazards. It's really fun to spend time trying to figure out how to secure and transport stuff efficiently while managing your fuel and the other resources at the same time. Summing up, this is a really decent game with a lot of content. Even tho the gameplay loop is relatively simple (discover new planet, harvest, upgrade, survive) there is still a lot of other stuff the game has to offer. If you like physics based games, resource management and exploration this is the game for you.

Well, looks like we have another winner here. I've been totally addicted to this one since getting it, and from watching my friends list, I'm not the only one. Space Bob vs The Replicons is, well.... how do I describe this? Now, I said this already in a recent other review (of ADIOS Amigos), but this game reminds me of two things: Lunar Lander, and Solar Jetman, both put together. And yeah, it's sort of a similar concept to ADIOS as a result, but it takes that basic core concept and runs in a totally different direction with it... this is NOT a clone of that game. Here, you will control Bob (obviously) as he tries to make it home, hopping from planet to planet on his way to the jump gate that should get him out of this galactic hell. Better move fast though, the Replicons are out for blood, and the longer you take, the more aggressive the horde will get. You'll explore all sorts of places, go hunting for crystals and items, fight robot spiders, dodge lava geysers, and so on, all while your AI buddy Dave cheers you on and offers advice (which does a great job of helping you to learn the game). If you're good enough, you may also visit a Replicon base or two. Most of your time though will be spent on those planets. Each individual planet is it's own self-contained world (unlike ADIOS where numerous planets are present at once). These planets are enormous... there's LOTS of room for all sorts of shiny stuff that you're going to want. Interestingly, the planets themselves are all hand-crafted. Originally I thought this would mean too much repetition, but it's done right here. The CONTENTS of the planets is the procedural aspect. You may have seen this specific desert world before, but you'll have to approach it very differently than the last time, because this time it's spawned totally different things in totally different places. The experience with each world varies wildly from one run to the next, and I love that. Some planets will have extensive cave networks to explore, others will be mostly adventures on the surface. All of them are huge though. Fortunately the game has an absolutely superb camera system. You can zoom in and out at will, however far you want, and at any time you can go into scan mode, where you can freely move the camera wherever, allowing you to scout for resources and plan out how you want to approach the planet. Or IF you want to approach the planet. Of course, actually getting at those resources is the hard part. Bob is.... fragile. He's not some superhero or something. His space suit is rather delicate and easily damaged. Basically everything hurts him as a result. Did you just walk into a wall too hard? Yep, that's some damage for you. Pulling an item and it slides into you? Yep, that'll hurt too. The one major thing that DOESNT hurt Bob is fall damage. As the game explains, his boots are pretty awesome. It's the rest of his suit that's hard to deal with. What's more, Bob's movement is kinda floaty. This guy is an astronaut, dealing with planets that seem to have rather low gravity... Bob tends to move as if he's on the moon. That's the best way I can explain it. Now, dont get me wrong here: The game's controls are actually excellent. However, it takes some getting used to. After some practice though, you'll be pulling off lots of skillful jetpack maneuvers and stuff like that. Just getting around and navigating these worlds feels great. Same for your lander, really... the small ship that you take down to the planet. It's big, it's slow, it's heavy, and it's easily damaged (fortunately, like Bob, it has quite a bit of HP, but damage adds up fast). Piloting the lander is a rather careful and deliberate process. Fly carefully, dont waste fuel, and land properly.... you dont want to end up on your side or wedged in something... that's bad. ADIOS had these elements too, but it's dramatically more forgiving about it than Space Bob is. Not only will your lander get you down to the surface, it'll also be how you take items back to your big ship. Drag them up there, and drop them into the processing room to get resources and such out of them. Which brings me to what's possibly the game's most awesome mechanic: The grappling hook/rope/beam or whatever it is. I said Bob isnt a superhero, but on second thought, he's maybe a bit like Spiderman. This grappling gizmo can fire a line that extends to any length and can latch onto basically anything. Once set, you can manipulate it's length directly, pulling yourself up and such. But not just that. You can rope multiple objects together easily (you can have as many ropes present as you want, there's no limit to them and they dont break until you manually pop them), and then string the whole blob of objects along. Grab them with Bob and fly them with your jetpack back to the lander. Or use the grapple thing as a winch and have it do the heavy lifting for you. There's alot of creative ways to get things done with this (or you could just swing around like some sort of Space Tarzan if you want). It's a simple mechanic that the game really runs with, making it incredibly versatile and loads of fun to use. On the forum there's a video that the dev made showing many uses of this thing... check it out to see what I mean. On top of all of that, there's loads of content here. LOTS of different objects and hazards that you can find on each planet. Each object is worth different resources (did I mention the grapple thing can scan objects and tell you exactly what each contains?), as well as crafting elements, for you to power up your character and lander. Some objects have special functions. There's LOTS of stuff to find, though you absolutely wont know just what things are for when you first encounter them. It seems though that basically everything even has a use. Even pieces of exploded enemies are worth taking back... they're almost always useful crafting elements. You will run into some planets that are almost barren (but hey, nobody says you MUST explore each one... feel free to move on) but overall, your run will be filled with cool things to find. That is, if you dont die first. Space Bob is a brutal game. Not only is Bob easily damaged, but hazards are everywhere. As are the Replicons, evil robots that come in many forms, and exist purely to murder you. Combat is something that is hard to get used to. Expect some frustration with that at first. It's very skill-based however... the more practice you have, the more bots you'll be smashing. But beware, as there's never truly a safe moment. What will often get you killed is the physics... all these different objects interacting and such, and combined with your own inevitable screwups, this can lead to Yet Another Stupid Death in rather entertaining ways. It never feels frustrating though, or unfair. There's always a way out of any situation, and the whole "scan with the camera" feature means you're never going in unprepared. It's up to you, not the RNG, to get through this adventure alive. Not to say that the RNG wont play a part, though... of course it will. But I'm saying that RNG alone isnt going to kill you here. This is a pretty big game, with lots of content, excellent mechanics, loads of careful detail, and many viable tactics for approaching any given situation. Exploring, fighting, looting, building up your character with powerups, and finding secrets... it's all here. There's alot to learn, and it's a bit tough to get used to, but as a whole, Space Bob is absolutely fantastic.