I have to admit that Algo Bot, done by Fishing Cactus is one of the more interesting Indie games that I have played. My attention is not an easy thing to keep and Algo Bot provided enough of a challenge that I felt like I had to prove I could get through the levels.
Things start out simple enough. You are controlling a robot, Algo Bot and are assigned to various tasks supplied to you by the Computer, who prefers to be called by Gemini. You begin with only three buttons, right and left turns and moving straight. Easy enough, right? Sure, for now.
Buttons are quickly added that allow for pushing buttons and picking up and putting down crates, turning around…everything you could need to complete your tasks. The even add in a neat little function key to make shortcuts and simplify things for you. The downside? You are only allowed a certain number of key inputs to complete whatever you are trying to do so you are forced to find the exact right combination for your function key or you simply run out of space for commands.
There is definitely a bit of a learning curve early on in Algo Bot, though visualization skills will help you out in no small amounts here. Even as you progress through the game, the limited space for commands can make things a full-on session of trial and error with a lot of error involved along with partial trials to see where you could potentially go wrong.
Then, of course, there is that awkward moment when you plan out a sequence perfectly and you are super impressed with yourself only to discover that you missed this one part of the task that you were supposed to accomplish. Fishing Cactus was really kind to us here as they don’t force you to restart the entire sequence; there is the option to input commands in the middle of your ongoing sequence. Though admittedly, there were a few occasions that I got frustrated figuring out where to best use my function key and just started the whole thing over anyway.
There were even a few times that I just exited out of the current mission and took a few minute break to come back to it later as I have a tendency of overthinking, especially when it comes to simple programming. I tend to want to make things far more complicated than they actually are, which is, I imagine, why Algo Bot provides a different way for advanced programmers to look at things.
The British humor certainly sells the game, especially for me. Granted, I have a weakness for that brand of humor that only the British seem to possess. Overall, I’m impressed and can’t wait to go finish the game.
If you want to try your hand at this interesting cross between programming and a game Algo Bot is out now on Steam!