Kombo’s Review Policy: Our reviews are written for you. Our goal is to write honest, to-the-point reviews that don’t waste your time. This is why we’ve split our reviews into four sections: What the Game’s About, What’s Hot, What’s Not and Final Word, so that you can easily find the information you want from our reviews.
What the Game’s About
Spyborgs is a new take on an old concept. Its lineage comes from Capcom greats like Captain Commando and Final Fight. The early 90s cartoon feel might signal that this game is for younger gamers but don’t let appearances fool you. This is an old school beat ’em up in every sense of the meaning. From larger than life personalities to a punishing difficulty, Spyborgs attempts to revive the genre.
What’s Hot
Many games have tried what Spyborgs accomplished, bringing the beat ’em up genre back into the gaming fold. The vibe is a New Ninja Warriors meets Captain Commando feel wrapped up in a late 80s early 90s Saturday cartoon setting. The game starts you off after some Spyborgs betray the group and it is up to three remaining ‘borgs to sort out the mess. That involves a lot of bad guys and powerful heroes to dish some serious firepower. Fights are spectacular with enemies small and bosses large. The graphics look good and the animations are smooth. There is quite a bit that happens on the screen at once so when you see a symphony of chaos.
The co-op mode is the strongest part of the game, like other games of the same type. Walking around the environment that is more or less “on rails” resembles an arcade coin-op title where gamers would squeeze around one cabinet and enjoy the on-screen mayhem. The three types of characters you choose from (slow, powerful type, speedy type and a balanced type) have their own distinct move list and super abilities. When you work your way through a level, you collect points that can be redeemed for upgrades that will help you win future levels with upgrades to character aspects like power, health and so on and so forth. There isn’t any waggle to speak of and the motion controls are used sparingly to unveil hidden boxes and computer consoles and perform devastating tag team moves.
What’s Not
Right away, not everything with Spyborgs is all gumdrops and rainbows. One of the first issues you’ll encounter, and encounter often, is a camera system that dampens the fun. Every area you need to clear of bad guys is a potential death trap because something can obscure your view of your character and it makes it hard to react to attacks. That leads to many deaths. Death in Spyborgs isn’t some slap on the wrist either; you start from the beginning of the level and do it all over again. The only saving grace is that if one of the Spyborgs dies and the other survives, there is a respawn timer that will bring the other character back with lower health.
The difficulty should have been tweaked back due to the camera being in the way. As it stands, the game is hard and there will be times where you can’t see what is going on. Not exactly the best combination to have. A difficult game can be a fun challenge and, in this setting, it stays true to the beat ’em up genre. However, that only works when the nuts and bolts of the game don’t have rust from obvious flaws. All fingers can point to the camera.
Final Word
This is a game that everyone is going to have a different opinion on. There are obvious drawbacks and a lot of room for improvement and there are just as many things that go in Spyborgs favor. If you have been hankering for a Double Dragon style game and haven’t been satisfied with recent beat ’em up offerings, Spyborgs is going to satisfy that craving.
