I, Robot Review (forceinfinity)
This is a Jeff Minter title, so you generally can expect heavy doses of colors, particles, retro sound fx, and other Llamasoft-isms. If you like Jeff Minter's work, you'll be happy with this one.
The general spirit of the original I Robot is still preserved with the main level being to take down the eye followed by blowing up tetrads in between levels. The game does challenge you with mini-goals and rewards you accordingly (like time, no dying, etc). The game rewards you for tetrad kill streaks as well as tile streaks. Your score can really ramp up if you max out either one. One thing added was the concept of arena levels where you have to kill enemies in some fashion to increase the coverage in the arena. I Robot almost behaves more like a puzzle game on some levels than its arcade counterpart, which requires you to figure out how get at certain sections of each level or how to work around some enemies while keeping in track of what the eye is doing (thankfully, the Sound FX give you great indicators of when it's red). This is one of those games where it's definitely easier to play with the sound as those sound cues can be life savers.
Pluses:
+ easy pick up and play
+ works great on a Steam Deck
+ preserves general spirit of I Robot
+ gives you ability to change the synthwave backgrounds to star fields if that is your desire
Minus
- On the SteamDeck some text is clipped off the sides of the screen. Doesn't seem to affect game play in a material way though
- No Big Brother
- No ability to shift the view
- No bonus screen with clearing the jewels inside the pyramid
On balance, I'll give this game a recommend based on the fact that at its core...it's still I, Robot in terms of the game play loop and I find myself going back to it. I can pick it up, play it 15 minutes and put it back down and be happy until I do it later on.