Tetrobot and Co. (Wii U) Review

Tetrobot and Co. plays out as a 2D, touch-controlled puzzle game. The goal in each level is to guide Psychobot through the pipes and other internal systems of the Tetrobot, while patching up any breakages. The simple interface and charming presentation conceal the game's difficulty. Each chapter is set inside a new Tetrobot and features one or two new gimmicks, for example, jam floors that blocks stick to. These gimmicks add new elements to the mix, resulting in new puzzles and much more undoing of actions. Each time Psychobot encounters a new object it unlocks entries in the Faceblox's Facebook parody journal. These are humorous little conversations between the blocks that effectively explain what the block properties are.

There is one feature that sets the game apart from other puzzlers: the ability to undo each and every action made during the level. This ability removes problems such as building Psychobot into an area with no escape.

The design of Tetrobot and Co. is very slick and simple. The animation is smooth and the presentation helps highlight important objects, meaning it's hard to feel lost in a level. There are many interactive objects that are necessary to finish a stage, such as sand, wood and stone blocks (not to dissimilar to Minecraft in visuals), but there are also extra collectables in the form of memory chips. These memory chips need to be collected in order to advance between chapters, and as an added bonus they unlock memory fragments, which show the Tetrobots photographing Maya, and then Maya's thoughts on the reasons behind the photos.

There are a few problems with Tetrobot and Co. The main issue is the reliance on touch or point controls. This means the game is awkward to play on the TV where the analogue sticks are used to control the pointer, and is much better suited to the GamePad display, where stylus control is available. While this is only a minor problem there are a couple more that relate to the game's programming. Once an action is started it cannot be cancelled. It can still be undone at the end, but it would have been nice to be able to stop Psychobot after accidentally sending him on a one-way journey to a redundant move.