Video game number two hundred and fifty two: Tokobot

Video game review number two hundred and fifty two in my 365 Games in 365 Days project is "Tokobot"

Tokobot is a PSP game that was recommended for me by Gamefly based on other games that I have rented. For some reason, they thought I'd enjoy a game with a bunch of cute little robots that follow this dude around and help him fight bad guys.

I guess it sort of does sound like something I'd like.

Anyway, you start out with six of these Tokobots, and (similar to the game Overlord), they are your minions. You order them to line up and become a ladder, smack people, do jumping attacks or spinning helicopter attacks. It's your basic platformer, but instead of fighting, you use these guys to do your fighting for you. It probably sounds a little more awesome than it actually is.

The graphics are nice and the game has a pretty good soundtrack, but the gameplay gets old pretty darn quick. Unlike the minions in Overlord, you can't really send your Tokobots off to do your bidding on their own, you have to manually control them. It's sort of a novelty at first, but it quickly gets annoying to have to form your crew of Tokobots up and then hold two different buttons down just to perform any attack. Pressing two buttons simultaneously at exactly the right time just to perform even the most basic attack is not fun (imagine having to press two buttons every time you wanted Mario to jump, and you'll get the idea).

Moving the Tokobots around is also awkward. There are only a handful of different "formations" you can walk in, and none of them are ideal. When you're walking in "V" formation, all your Tokobots are in a line, and it's really hard to steer them and move at the same time. When you're in "U" formation, they're in a straight line on either side of you, which means going through doors is tough. There's also a circle formation, but the attack for that one only works on enemies that are already downed, so walking around like that is dumb.

Overall Score? 5/10. There's nothing really great about this game, and I didn't feel like playing for more than a few levels. It's pretty average and is definitely more of a rental than a purchase. As someone once said: Come on folks, nothing to see here. Move along.