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Awesomenauts
PC (Steam)
I Want All the Things!
4/5 stars
Awesomenauts is really the first MOBA I have played. I haven't got into these top-down, somehow massively popular games that have taken the world by storm (seriously - the US team just won millions of dollars by taking the League of Legends crown - I guess I'm in the wrong business). But Awesomenauts also seems to be unique (at the moment) in that it's more of a 2D platformer (and a colorful one at that) than your traditional MOBA-style game. What drives this game for me, however, isn't the MOBA aspect, but rather the great blend of characters and humor that come with the game.
Presentation: The look of the game is one that blends vibrant colors with a cartoonish style. It's bright and light-hearted yet with an undercurrent of I'm-going-to-destroy-you violence. No blood and guts here - but violent none-the-less. Think more Roadrunner and Wile E Coyote than Call of Duty. And it's fun - so much fun, because each of the 22 characters (some that do require DLC) is also unique - from their look to their skills to their voices - and that's really what makes Awesomenauts stand out from the crowd.
The game did a great job of getting the vocal talent on board. Favorites include the viking-esque Skølldir (who sounds like a cross between Grandpa Simpson and Fat Bastard), Voltar the Omniscient (who has a mad-Nazi-scientist vibe) and, the incorrigible Ashly Burch as the psychokinetic Ayla (and apparently a big fan of Futurama). - but, really, all the voices are well done, imbuing each character with their own unique voice (even when one person is voicing multiple characters). The music is all standard, but I'm OK with that.
Story: While each character has their own backstory - the game itself doesn't have a story. You just fight 3-on-3 battles (against AI or online) and that's pretty much it. If you're looking for something deep, move along.
Gameplay: The purpose of a MOBA is pretty much the same no matter how you present it - you have a base, you opponent has a base. In between said bases are barriers (in this case turrets) that must be destroyed to get to the enemies' base. You have drones to help you out but without your support behind them, you'll never succeed. Of course, your opponents are thinking the same thing - the goal is to destroy without getting destroyed because when you die, you can't upgrade your skills and you get knocked out of the game for a fair bit of time. You have to manage between defending, attacking - falling back and pressing - on lower difficulties, it's pretty much a snap, but if you get into the tougher difficulties, you will be challenged.
Each character has their own skillset. Some are up-close and personal melee, others are ranged and some are support. Having a good mix of each in the group is the key to winning - I myself prefer the more melee guys - Ayla, Clunk, Skølldir, Ted McPain - hit big and up close. But, aside from a few characters, I really enjoyed playing as all of them. In order to achieve maximum efficiency you have to take out the enemy drones (and the occasional Awesomenaut) in order to gain the in-game currency, Solar. This allows you to upgrade your skills, along with your overall characters (health, damage reduction, etc) so you can more easily take down said enemies. If you are the one dying all the time, you're doing it wrong (and will lose). We went up against actual people online (at least a couple of times) and were kindof wiped out - so it's still a work in progress. One thing is for certain - as frustrating as things can get, I still had a lot of fun.
Replayability: With the sheer amount of characters and difficulties (not to mention the online aspects) plus plenty of upgrades to earn (and re-earn if you want to reset the thing over and over again), Awesomenauts is pretty much a game you can go back to over and over and over again.
Overall: A really fun MOBA - that's begging to get together with friends. It can get frustrating at times, but once you get the hand of it (and plan out some tactics), it gets better and the characters and all their catchphrases are just icing on the cake.
Presentation: 4/5
Story: N/A
Gameplay: 4/5
Replayability: 5/5
Overall (not an average): 4/5
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