Humble Voxatron Debut gets sweeter

Nov 10, 2011 by Joshua    No Comments    Posted under: game feature, games

I had intended to do up a review of “Voxatron”, but I’m having a hard time coming up with anything to say about the game. It’s in alpha right now, so it’s not even really a full release yet.

That said, I can certainly see the game has potential. On the surface, it’s a run-and-gun good time with a nice assortment of enemies and powerups and just a touch of puzzle-solving for good measure. Take into account the level editor and the “BBS” option, which allows players to share and play each other’s custom-made levels, and you’ve got an endless amount of fun and variety.

The game’s design is based on voxels, which are kind of like the building blocks of 3D game mapping. If you’re familiar with “Minecraft“, each “block” in that game is essentially a voxel. And like “Minecraft”, “Voxatron” allows players to construct anything with the voxels. On top of that, they can be animated and made to initiate certain actions based on the player’s own actions.

What’s also neat about the use of voxels is that it allows for destructible environments. You control an adorable little robot with a pea shooter, and as you fire away at enemies, any walls or other structures you hit break and deteriorate from each shot. Through the powerups, you are also able to build on or destroy the environment – one grants the power to shoot blocks that can be used as stairs, and another causes a large explosion that takes out anything around you.

I tried out some of the shared BBS levels, and I was impressed with some of the creativity I saw. In one adventure, I found myself on the planet Purpletron, combating wave after wave of little blue aliens. In another, I was caught in a string of bad creepypasta references. In yet another, I was in a cubicle farm overrun by monsters.

The game has a regular adventure mode with many levels, and there’s also an arcade mode for those times when you just feel like taking on wave after wave of enemies. Even so, it doesn’t feel complete yet – probably because it isn’t. It would be great to see a multiplayer option integrated in later updates. Lexaloffle Games, the developer, has already released an update that allows for customized controls, with the promise of more updates in the future.

With the update of the announcement, the Humble Voxatron Debut also added a few more goodies to the deal. They’ve tossed in “Gish”, a physics-based side-scroller starring a ball of tar, as well as three minigames by Lexaloffle. So if you haven’t grabbed the bundle yet, the deal just got sweeter! And if you have already gotten it, get to the link containing your key and download the new additions.

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