Ultratron (Wii U) Review

Inspired by classic games from the '80s, such as Robotron: 2084, Ultratron is played from a top-down perspective. The aim is simple: players must eliminate all of the enemies on-screen before their shields are depleted, which can be done by taking advantage of the many upgrades on offer, using the in-game currency.

There are over 40 levels that get progressively harder, with more enemy projectiles being fired across the screen and enemies that chase the main character. Each enemy killed drops "dots" that come in a variety of sizes - the game's source of currency - with harder enemies dropping larger dots, which in turn nets greater rewards.

After each successful level, it is off to the shop, where it is possible to upgrade the android's shield and also unlock numerous different skills that will come in handy along the adventure, such as Smartbombs, Plasma Grenades, pets to take down the enemy, as well as some general damage upgrades for the aforementioned skills.

Once in every ten stages, a boss will appear, of which there are four: Ieiunitas, Bellum, Lues, and Letum. When defeated, each will drop a cluster of dots to be spent in the shop and a checkpoint will also be activated. This means that upon dying, there is the choice to continue from that point. However, it is only possible to restart the entire game from levels 1, 11, 21, and 31, with no further checkpoints available after those stages.

As well as there being regular stages, every so often there will be a special stage in the form of Challenge, Assault, and Dodge. In Challenge, the objective is to shoot as many Spidroids as possible, quick moving enemies that fly on and off the screen in a straight line. Assault contains a vast amount of enemies that fire projectiles at the protagonist from many different angles. Lastly, Dodge tasks gamers with the goal of dodging as many enemies as possible, without shooting them unless needed to.

The graphical style of Ultratron is visually pleasing, yet the strobe effects that are enabled by default often distract and frustrate, so it is recommended that these be turned off before delving into the game.