Published by EastAsiaSoft for $5, Springbot: The Last Spark is a side scrolling indie platformer composed of 35 levels. While I have covered many EAS budget platformers over the years, this one, unfortunately, is easily one of the worst.
Playing as robot with springs for legs, the goal is to simply make it to the end point. With one button to jump over stereotypical video game hazards, gameplay might seem simple enough especially if you watch the gameplay trailer. However, it only takes a level to realize the slippery, loose controls and awful hit detection makes this deceptively evil digital download a lesson in frustration.
Despite having springs for legs, accurately moving left and right is challenging and tedious because it always feels like moving on ice. Like Mario, Springbot’s only form of offensive is bouncing on the heads of the mindless enemies that simply pace back and forth. These enemies should be easy enough to defeat but since the controls are without any sort of precision, even the most basic encounter could have you restarting from the last checkpoint. On top of that, there are only a few enemy types so the repetition isn’t appreciated especially when these dumb enemies are also cheaply positioned to make your springing a living hekk. Oh yeah, and the spring sound effect with each jump is enough to make you bash your head against a wall.
There are over 30 stages, each contained within their own biome, but still lack variety making the entire campaign nothing but a boring, frustrating mess. If struggling with the floaty controls and bland enemies weren’t enough, the game wants the player to tediously replay each stage using a glitch mode after original completion. Play this not fun platformer again, when suffering through it was never fun in the first place, yeah, no thanks.
Sometimes these low-cost games can still be redeemed, even if just for a bit, if they have easy Achievements/Trophies to unlock but Springbot doesn’t even have this. Therefore, I don’t think I can think of a reason to recommend this title even with the low cost. Play just about anything else in EAS’s library instead.
SCORE: 2/10
By: Zachary Gasiorowski, Editor in Chief myGamer.com
X/Twitter: @ZackGaz
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