➤ Supernauti and MOBA on your console 🎮

Awesomenauts, says the development team Ronimo, is a MOBA, and the mind immediately runs to strategic fantasy and subcultures from cyber-sports, to games for the true mouse and keyboard experts. Then the game is launched, we witness the presentation and all possible preventive constructs fail, leaving us rather bewildered but definitely amused. On the other hand, the Dutch development team is not new to such operations, and quite the contrary Awesomenauts seems to fit perfectly into the reinterpretation of the strategy started with the previous Swords & Soldiers, with which this title shares style and general setting in terms of gameplay and graphic representation.

The most striking feature in both titles is the two-dimensionality, a choice that crushes the classic depth of real-time strategists on two dimensions, necessarily bending the mechanics towards more action and immediate meanings, a real "flattening" in a spatial sense that however it proves free from negative meanings, opening the way to new hybridizations with the action genre and to decidedly captivating stylistic solutions. Here then is that the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena manages to pass from cult status in the most hardcore circles of PC users to the facetious public console, even passing from the most purely playful and immediate channels of Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, or Live Arcade and PlayStation Network . While falling precisely within the definition of the genre, Awesomenauts manages not to be derivative in the least and makes it clear right away, presenting itself with an animated cartoon introduction that seems to come directly from Cartoon Network, colorful graphics and a splendid 90s platform characterization that manages to give the game a very particular identity, which is not easy to obtain in a MOBA. We do not let ourselves be fooled, however, since the stylistic choice does not only imply a desire to bastardize the genre and bring it to a wider audience. The Ronimo game is based on precise, deep and well-structured mechanics and its use requires a calibrated dosage of skill with the controller and strategic ability.

Drilling platform

As befits a MOBA, the games take place within extensive but well-defined maps, in which we find ourselves fighting by controlling, as in a sort of platform / shooter, a character (a "hero", in the standard of RTS) capable of jumping, shooting and using special skills. The maps are characterized by two focal points of interest in correspondence with the drills, huge machines used for the extraction of the Solar, or the primary energetic matter in the universe of Awesomenauts. Basically, the purpose of the game is the protection of one's own drill and the destruction of the opponent's one, a fundamental mechanic that refers to that typical of team multiplayer with bases. On the field there are two teams composed of three main characters each, each characterized by certain specific abilities but deeply modifiable thanks to the upgrades that can be purchased directly on the battlefield at your base, by spending the accumulated Solar.

To the three basic characters are added another three as the game progresses, a number not huge but sufficient to cover the classic basic stereotypes (tank, healer, long and short range attack) with all the possible evolutions that follow different choices made in terms of skill tree, the latter quite complex and varied. To tell the truth, there is a certain imbalance in favor of the three unlockable characters that are superior to the three basic ones, which can involve, at first, a certain difficulty for novice players who are in the game against others who already possess advanced fighters, as there is no filter to establish a handicap on this aspect. To the main characters are added armies of automated drones that advance towards the opposing base and huge turrets placed at the access points on the road to the bases and which constitute the main hubs of the battle, the points where the most furious clashes take place, being these the main obstacles to achieving the goal. Once weakened and therefore destroyed, the turrets cannot be reconstituted, so it is of fundamental importance to protect your own and try to destroy the opponent's ones. Drones can be used to weaken enemy defenses and as movable shields, letting the fire focus on them as we approach the target.

Xbox 360 achievements

12 achievements for 200 total points are featured in Awesomenauts. Given the nature of the game, the objectives are mainly based on the cumulative performance of the player in the various games, linked to the amount of victories achieved, kills made and awards obtained in the ranking. Dedication is required for a good harvest, as always with Awesomenauts.

Two-dimensional depth

Although the initial impression may give the idea of a confusing gameplay mechanic, more aimed at shooter-style action, Awesomenauts instead, it rewards the reasoned approach to confrontation. The hero's energy is limited and resetting it, although not the end of the game, results in the return to the capsule and the initial landing sequence before being able to return to action, with a substantial loss of precious seconds that can be fatal for the shifting of the balance of power in the game, in addition to the forced release of copious quantities of Solar at the mercy of the enemies once you are - momentarily - eliminated. It is therefore preferable to act with caution and use the teleportation to return to the base and heal yourself, in case there are no kits available. Teleportation must also be handled wisely, however, as it takes a few seconds to activate, during which time we are completely vulnerable. Given the strategic load and the need to coordinate team action, it is clear that the best way to play is certainly in multiplayer with human companions and opponents, also playable in split-screen (although with occasional slowdowns in this case, in the most difficult situations. chaotic). The game structure is however set on PvP three against three and in the absence of players the CPU replaces these with bots, but the uncertain artificial intelligence of the latter does not allow the development of coordinated team strategies, in addition to obviously not reaching the level of engagement and challenge that the human partner or opponent is able to provide. The reiterated structure focused on mechanics that basically do not allow huge variations on the theme tends to trigger a sense of monotony after long sessions, and the presence of only three maps (at least for the moment) is also felt on this point, but it is however, it is difficult not to be carried away by the perfect game mechanism and constant evolution of the characters, so much so that it is difficult to leave Awesomenauts. Another point that can be moved in Ronimo is on the general rhythm of the matches, which often drag on for a long time despite the balance of forces being inexorably defined once you reach a certain point, wearily extending the agony of a team without this having effective possibility of overturning the result. Perhaps the imposition of a time limit would have helped on this front.

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Version tested: Xbox 360 Digital Delivery: Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network Price: 800 Microsoft Point, € 9,99 Resources4Gaming.com

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As with Swords & Soldiers, Ronimo has once again managed to conceal considerable strategic depth under the thin 2D surface of Awesomenauts. The captivating aspect manages to attract and make digestible a decidedly rough game mechanics, which tends to discriminate newbies within a tight competition and a high level of challenge. Those who manage to overcome the initial frustration will probably get caught up in the perfect mechanism of progression and reward in terms of greater destructive power of the characters, whose mastery must be carefully refined by exploring all the intricacies of the complex skill trees. Then, a certain sense of repetitiveness can take over, which is nevertheless inherent in the MOBA itself, but it is still difficult, once you get into the heart of the action, to actually leave the controller after yet another "last game and then to bed".