Witch-Bot Meglilo (PC) Review

By Gabriel Jones 17.01.2017

Review for Witch-Bot Meglilo on PC

In the year 1977, Lily of the Gogoh Army has captured Professor Amamori. Why? Because he's the amazing inventor of Supercharged Robot Vulkaiser (available now on Steam). This Voltron-inspired mech has proved to be quite troublesome for the alien invaders. Nevertheless, Lily is about to vaporise Amamori when, from out of nowhere, magical girl Meglilo arrives to save the- Oh… Oh, God. Poor Meglilo was shot by Lily's laser and, uh… It's too horrible to describe. Thankfully, the brilliant professor is able to perform reconstructive surgery on the poor witch. Now, Meglilo has become Witch-Bot Meglilo! Avenger of mankind! Wait... Shouldn't that be "Saviour of mankind"? Oh, well.

In this shmup, Meglilo takes to the skies to avenge those who have fallen to Gogoh's army. There's a surprising amount of story to this game, due to its frequent cut-scenes and plenty of absurd dialogue. Despite the nonsense, players would do well not to estimate this game. The bullets are quick and plentiful, and the prevalence of shield power-ups matters little, when Meglilo is always just a few direct hits away from a miserable end. Other hazards such as narrow corridors require calm nerves and a careful hand. Oh and by the way, there aren't any continues.

Naturally, this magical girl-bot is packing some serious heat. Alongside her main cannon are two options. Over the course of each stage, there are several opportunities to swap out her secondary weapons. Some are better for certain situations, while others require a riskier style of play to get the full effect. Meglilo can also utilise the miraculous time-stop ability. By simply holding down a button, time freezes, and the heroine can teleport to any location on-screen. This is an important tool, since even the most skilled players can't dodge everything. However, this ability drains a special meter. Overreliance on time-stop can leave the avenger in a serious bind.

Screenshot for Witch-Bot Meglilo on PC

Witch-Bot Meglilo offers up four levels of difficulty. The easy setting is perfectly suitable for someone who just wants to enjoy the "intricate" plot. Normal definitely kicks things up a few notches, but anyone who cuts their teeth on arcade shmups shouldn't worry too much. The hard and aptly-named insane difficulties will test the limits of anyone. Not only are there more bullets to contend with, bosses get new attacks, further complicating mankind-avenging matters. There's also a scoring system that rewards robowitches for destroying enemies as quickly as possible while not taking any damage at all.

One of the strengths of Astroport (the developer) is their consistency. All of their games are mechanically sound, action-packed, and have a clear direction. There aren't going to be long stretches where nothing happens, nor are there any unfair deaths or impossible to avoid situations. They know what works and what they have to do to achieve the desired result. This is a short game, but it succeeds where it matters.

Screenshot for Witch-Bot Meglilo on PC

Cubed3 Rating

7/10
Rated 7 out of 10

Very Good - Bronze Award

Rated 7 out of 10

For anyone out there who has ever wished that Astro Port would make a shmup about schoolgirl witches instead of mechs and explosions, Witch-Bot Meglilo is the game for them. Like all of their other titles, this shooter is well-crafted and highly entertaining. Don't like cute stuff? That's fine, too. In fact, it might even be preferable, considering just how zany and sometimes dark the story and characters are. This game is well worth a look.

Developer

Astro Port

Publisher

Playism

Genre

Shooter

Players

1

C3 Score

Rated $score out of 10  7/10

Reader Score

Rated $score out of 10  0 (0 Votes)

European release date Out now   North America release date Out now   Japan release date Out now   Australian release date Out now   

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