Bounty Bots Review

Multi-player death match games never really interested me. I never found it fun to chase my fellow gamers around scoring kills. It seems redundant, you always respawn and what's the reward? For example, I played Goldeneye for the story campaigns, not the multiplayer. Would Bounty Bots get me to care about a multiplayer shoot 'em up game? 

Bounty Bots is a first-person shooter. Well, I say first-person. Technically it’s third-person because you can see your robot from behind, but only a little. You’re basically looking ahead at the environment and opponents, running around collecting gold like you would with Mario or a zillion other coin collecting games.

Controlling your robot is pretty intuitive to the touch. Bounty Bots has a simulated directional pad on the screen and it reacts just like an analog controller, sensitive to speed and angle, so you can really nuance your movements. On the right there’s a strafing knob too. To fire you just tap on the screen, and aiming is basically out the window. You kind of just keep shooting and try to maneuver your bot so that he’s kind of in the range of an enemy robot.

Since Bounty Bots is multi-player only, it can be hard to find a game some nights if no one else is playing. So let this review be a call to action. Bounty Bots players, please join up so we can fight. It’s free to join, so test it out before you spend any in-app money.

Which raises another important point. If you go into Bounty Bots as a newbie, you’ll get creamed by the higher powered bots with special weapons and seemingly indestructible armor. You may want to just go ahead and pay for some upgrades, because I don’t see how you can earn the cash and experience points if you keep getting killed. Once you buy new weapons and armor it's like a whole new world.

But, since it’s multi-player, you always respawn. Like most deathmatch games, you just go and go until time runs out. Maybe there’s a strategy involved but it seems to me you’re just running around tapping buttons. Taking any time for strategy only makes you a target. I'd actually like to play a single-player campaign and really explore the world of robots in the old west, but maybe that'll be an add-on some day.

The graphics are bright and cartoony and fit perfectly in a robotic, western town world. They’re simple enough that the game never slows down for loading, but they totally capture the feel of a robotic simulation of the stereotypical old west, a Frontier Land meets Westworld if you will. The music contributes a fun, electronic western riff.

They’ve released a new map of a mining town, so you have two environments to play in. Maybe this means they will continue to add-on new maps and more additions to the game. Either environment is perfectly find to run around guns blazing. There are plenty of alleys and corners and rooms to chase through or stake out and await your prey. I usually found myself running around until I saw something to shoot at.

With no story to speak of, there aren’t really any stakes. I guess just building up your own robot as much as possible so that some day you’ll be the indestructible guy terrorizing a newbie. That always makes it hard for me to get too hardcore about multi-player, but when you’re in the mood for it, Bounty Bots is a lot of fun.

App Store Link: Bounty Bots for iPhone & iPad | ByMunkyfun, Inc. | Price: Free | Version: 1.2.0 | 122 MB | Rating 9+