I had originally meant for this review to go live last week, but, unfortuantely, the holidays just got the better of me. I do hope that you didn’t take that to mean Frobot wasn’t a good game, however, as I’ve just finished playing my review copy and I came away thoroughly impressed with not only the gameplay, but also the aesthetic, characters and story… yes this game most certainly has a story.

Frobot, for those of you who haven’t seen it, can be summed up in a single word: funky. Everything about this game oozes with that sort of jive 1970s vibe that was so pervasive 40 years ago. While it might seem dated now, you can rest assured that reliving this fabled time of gold chains and jive turkeys is actually well worth the entry price, particularly if you always found yourself fond of a certain American detective named Shaft.

But enough about that let’s tackle what you’re probably really interested in, the gameplay.

I’ve mentioned this previously on this site multiple times, but I’ll say it again: the entire gameplay of Frobot is very similar to playing a the classic 2D Zelda temples. This, in my opinion is a fantastic gameplay structure as it creates a fun, puzzle atmosphere but without getting overly complicated for people who just want to play a game and not worry a third dimension as is now customary in modern Zelda titles.

The primary difference between Frobot‘s puzzle “temples” and Zelda‘s is that Frobot‘s puzzles aren’t contained to a singular room. What I mean by this is that you’ll habitually be dragging items from one screen to the next and back again in order to solve a puzzle. This ensures that no puzzle is too easy, aside from the very first few, of course.

Now, naturally, being a badass Frobot, the game hooks you up with an impressive arsenal to dispose of any enemies that you most definitely will come into contact with. You’ve got the traditional “pew pew” energy blast gun, remote mines, a rocket launcher, the “Jive Stalker” which follows your Wii pointer, and a grenade which can be thrown over walls. Each weapon provides it’s own use and functionality within the game that will allow you to proceed through the levels. Note: the grenade is for multiplayer only.

Beyond the weapons, Frobot also has a a shield with which he can block energy blasts as well as a dash that allows Frobot to quickly move out of the way should you require it. These two items are fairly standard within this type of game.

My favorite part about the game, however, isn’t really the puzzles but rather the bosses for each section of the game. During these fights, the game’s camera zooms out and gives you a much wider perspective from with which you can view everything. Each boss has a unique hook to it that makes fighting them different from traditional games where you’re usually just required to hit them ‘x’ amount of times.

Frobot also comes with a local  multiplayer mode. It’s pretty fun, although nothing really spectacular. It’s just you and 2-3 friends blasting each other with all of Frobot’s arsenal. It can be particularly fun if you’re with the right people. Sadly, however, beyond that there’s just not much to it.

Stylistically, Frobot is a double edged sword. On the one hand, the aesthetic and setting of the game are great. I love how colorful and funky the game feels. On the other side, Frobot is a glaring reminder at the Wii’s inadequacies when it comes to graphics. Colors are dimmer and everything is rougher than what you’d expect on even most Xbox Live Indie Games. A PC version of Frobot is supposed to be coming out soon and I can only hope that it doesn’t suffer from similar issues.

Finally, we come to the story. As you can imagine Frobot absolutely has quite a ridiculous plot line. But that’s okay because being set in the same vein as Shaft entitles you to have a ridiculous plot even if it involves jive robots from a dystopian future. I won’t delve too deep into it, but suffice it to say “the Man” has decided to abduct Frobot‘s women, an entirely unacceptable proposition.

Overall, I was impressed with Frobot‘s simplistic yet addictive gameplay that had me returning for more time and again. There’s a lot of gameplay to be had here, especially for fans of the old Zelda games.

Frobot can be had today on the Nintendo WiiWare store for 1000 Nintendo points ($10).

[Frobot, WiiWare]