Tecmo Robocalypse

I'm surprised there aren't more RTS titles on the DS. The stylus and dual screens seem like a natural fit for the genre but aside from a handful of titles, it's sort of slim pickings for RTS fans. Robocalypse aims to fill that void with a robotic take on the genre that, for the most part, succeeds.

I'm surprised there aren't more RTS titles on the DS. The stylus and dual screens seem like a natural fit for the genre but aside from a handful of titles, the RTS genre has been sort of overlooked on Nintendo's handheld. Robocalypse aims to fill that void with a simplistic robot combat title that more or less succeeds.

The story takes place in a factory where prototype robots and toasters are being produced-talk about an odd combination! But when military combat routines are accidentally installed into the new robots, it turns them into strategic killers. To save humanity, a factory worked named Myron creates a new batch of robots that have been implanted with the brain scans of retired World War II vets. The setup's pretty wacky but the gameplay definitely relies on tried-and-true RTS conventions.

The Campaign mode offers 17 unique missions complete with hidden objectives and a reward system for meeting specific criteria. There's also a good variety to the unit and weapon types, with each robot possessing its own set of skills and armaments. You control the action with a simple point and click interface that's complimented by an Action Flag system that greatly reduces the difficulty of commanding multiple units but it can be frustrating to search for a specific unit, especially in the heat of battle. Your bots are smart enough to make some decisions on their own but I noticed some questionable behavior every now and again.

Despite these issues, I still liked the game's unique style and I'm happy to see the DS getting more RTS love. It's an easy game to pick up and I would recommend it to RTS lovers who game on the go. It won't make you forget about Starcraft II or the new Red Alert but it's a good way to kill a few hours.