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Robo the robot is the lovesick hero of the new puzzle game for the Treo from Herocraft. Robo's girlfriend, Eny, has been kidnapped by the Discharger, and your task is to navigate through 74 levels of increasingly difficult puzzles to rescue her. Each level entails you finding your way across a hazard filled board to the exit. To help you on the way you'll find strategically placed rocks, mirrors, and bombs.

The game is well structured, just like the other Herocraft games I have reviewed. The first few levels consist of tutorials easing you into the game. Once you have done the tutorials you'll quickly realize that this is a simple game at heart. You'll make quick progress through the first few levels as all the useful objects are placed in positions making it obvious what you have to do to progress.

However, the game quickly becomes difficult. There are booby traps to catch you if you make a wrong move, like standing just a little too close to the exploding bomb that you used to blow up a laser cannon.

Whenever you die you have to restart the level from scratch, making the game very unforgiving. This means that on later levels you can lose 5-10 minutes of careful puzzle solving by accidentally walking one square too far into a laser beam. The difficulty of the later levels will really challenge you. Often you'll have to replay the same level 5-10 times as you work out what to do one step at a time.

As often you'll move an item and soon realize you have made a mistake, it would be nice if there was an undo button to undo your last move. The only way to complete the level is to kill yourself and start the level again. Surprisingly, I didn't find having to repeat levels annoying, as you get a great sense of achievement when you finally crack a puzzle which has had you stumped for several days. After completing a level you get a results screen showing you how long it took you to complete the level as well as your best time for the level.

The graphics of the game are great and there are lots of little cool graphical touches, like the way you get to see Robo's reflection any time he's close to a mirror or the short circuiting of a laser cannon just before it explodes.

Like many games for the Treo this isn't the most original game I have ever played: it reminds me of several old school puzzle games. But to be honest, when a game is as well designed and executed as Robo, I don't think this really matters. $12.95 is a reasonable price for a game with so many levels that will keep you occupied with many hours of problem solving.

Related Links

Buy Palm OS Robo

Buy Windows Mobile Robo

Download Palm OS demo of Robo

Download Windows Mobile demo of Robo

Discuss Palm OS Robo

Discuss Windows Mobil Robo

Visit the Herocraft Robo webpage

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