Review: Ultratron

Posted by Collin on September 12th, 2016 | 0 Comments | Tags: Curve Digital , Puppy Games , Ultratron

Ultratron plays like an old-school arcade game where high scores and power-ups matter. Robots have enslaved humanity and the brain of the last human has been implanted into an upgradable battledroid. Your mission is to avenge the human race, all while trying to obtain the highest score. As you complete levels and destroy enemy battledroids, you’ll obtain money that can be used to upgrade many various attributes of the mechanical droid. The game isn’t super complex, and don’t expect to find a wide range of modes, but what is here should be enough to satisfy fans new and old.

Ultratron is a twin-stick shooter that is pretty simple to pick up. When you shoot enemies, you’ll collect money and earn points that work toward the high score. Money can be used to purchase upgrades such as pets that can take a hit for you or attack other enemies. These bots can be upgraded with additional money as well. Other upgrades can include buying more health (shields) for the battledroid, smart bombs that can completely clear the level of enemies and even a boost that allows you to escape oncoming danger even faster. There is much more than just those abilities, but I never found myself wanting to venture out and upgrade crazier new abilities like one that allowed you to pick up money from a farther distance. I tended to gravitate toward replenishing my health and upgrading bots to help me in battle. Some of the other abilities are helpful, but when I’m trying to get a high score, abilities like health and immediate support were more important to me. Each game of Ultratron played starts at the beginning, unless you have gotten a checkpoint which happens at every ten levels, up to level 30. Humanity can be avenged at level 40, but after that the game becomes even tougher and you’re out to survive as long as you can. Special stages occur here and there and include trying to dodge enemies or shoot fast moving enemies before they escape off screen. This is mostly for high score chasers, but if you can achieve a “perfect” in these stages, you’ll be rewarded with some extra cash to spend on upgrades. Golden bots known as Spidroids grant more powerful upgrades such as rapid-fire or shots that bounce off walls. If you want to achieve higher scores or progress through the levels, you’ll need to find these Spidroids. Fruit will appear on screen at times to increase your high score as well.

As the attraction of the game is score chasing, I never seemed to worry about my points, as my multiplier was lost many times after getting hit. I just found myself trying to last as long as possible, more than achieving the high score. Ultratron does support local co-op so you and your friend can achieve high scores on their own separate leaderboards.

The entire game is shown on a single screen. What you need to see is shown directly in front of you, and I appreciate that, meaning nothing from off screen is just randomly shooting you from afar. The background stays the same for the most part, and each new section is just a different change in color. On the topic of color, some bullets and enemies tended to blend into the background, which lead me to run into enemies’ right after I spotted them. It’s tough to understand what is happening around you with the chaos on screen and the some colors blending into each other. Sounds mimic futuristic chimes and it fits the mood nicely. The soundtrack stood out to me as it made difficult moments even more stressful, and boss fights even more daunting.

Ultratron isn’t anything that will blow your mind, but it does work for those wanting to achieve high scores and chase leaderboards with the community. It only offers one mode, but there is enough variety in the weapons and upgrades that should keep players intrigued for a while. The addition of Cross-Save support doesn’t hurt either.

A copy of this game was purchased for review purposes. For more info on our review policy click here.