Infused with a retro futurism paying homage to ‘80s sci-fi comedian books, Junkster challenges you to escort a plucky little robotic affectionately titled UM-13 house after his spaceship crash lands on a hostile planet. Fortunately, UM-13 is a mechanic geared up along with his useful robo-wrench, which permits it to seize at junk scattered round and use it to assemble methods to bypass obstacles.
The comedian guide theme is entrenched on this sport in an extremely cute manner, informing each the aesthetic and the extent construction. The menu display screen takes the type of a pile of comics, every of which represents one of many 20 ranges you’ll be able to unlock and choose. Every time you choose one, a cute animation performs of the guide opening, throughout which you see the opening panels of UM-13 being transported to the subsequent planet it must traverse.
The objective of every stage is to soundly cross from a begin to an finish level, gathering cogs alongside the best way and aiming to seek out an merchandise on the finish of the map, both a bit of your trashed ship or an artifact, which is echoed within the collectible toy you’ll be able to pull off the entrance of that stage’s comedian when you full it, and set off a portal that takes you to the subsequent stage. As a bonus, there may be additionally a sticker hidden someplace on every stage you’ll be able to unlock. This makes for a cute construction that provides the sport a singular aesthetic id.
The tutorial could be very clear and the mechanics are simple to understand. You possibly can run and leap across the map and use your robo-wrench to collect building supplies. The constructing mechanics supply some room for creativity in the way you method every puzzle. You should utilize totally different objects for a similar goal, so whereas the perform of a bridge or a robotic or no matter else you would possibly construct will stay the identical, your construction can fluctuate vastly. The pacing of the degrees is properly constructed, starting with pretty apparent, simple builds within the early ranges growing into extra complicated puzzles as you progress, leaving extra freedom to strategise.
At first, you construct bridges to cross obstacles, resembling pits you’ll be able to fall into or vegetation that can poison you. You then construct robots you’ll be able to climb inside to keep away from harmful territory, or shoot by massive blockages. Later there are electrical circuits it’s important to reconstruct to open doorways. Lastly, it’s important to mix all three to navigate more and more complicated ranges. Whereas nearly all of the degrees are enjoyable and attention-grabbing with partaking puzzles and quantity of selection all through, there are a handful that require a suicidal reboot when you fall into the mistaken inescapable nook.
The controls could possibly be extra intuitive in locations. There have been definitely situations the place what felt like the proper place to click on had a wildly totally different end result than anticipated. It additionally feels odd that in your stock administration, B is acquire and A is shut, which is instantly reverse to the overwhelming majority of different video games. That is an unlucky gripe that’s comparatively minor however does add up when the precise controls that really feel jarring are required so typically.
Regardless of the comedian guide aesthetic, there isn’t a lot of a narrative to the sport in any respect. You’re UM-13 and you must get house, so that you get previous the obstacles in your manner. There isn’t an emotional hook to the objective of getting house, and even of rebuilding your presumably beloved spaceship. Apart from being cute and resourceful, there isn’t a lot to UM-13’s persona, which appears like a missed alternative to bump up the stakes with some easy narrative gadgets.
Alongside your journey, you sometimes stumble upon different stranded automata who it’s important to assist or collaborate with to finish the extent. This feels prefer it might have been a wonderful and comparatively simple solution to incorporate some world constructing into the sport by the present dialogue. Nonetheless, that is one other missed alternative as the opposite characters largely simply provide you with clues about how you can full the extent, moderately than providing even the best rationalization about who they’re or how in addition they ended up stranded on a hostile planet.
Junkster is a enjoyable sport, with a good quantity of content material and feeling of development, particularly for its worth level. Its attention-grabbing puzzles are properly balanced with a constant and pleasant aesthetic, although there are some clear missed alternatives to develop the journey right into a extra full and fleshed-out narrative.
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