Mekabolt Review

Ratalaika Games are specialists in quickly bring us small, quirky games that lend themselves well to new or younger players, with an easy learning curve and simple – if repetitive – gameplay. Well, Mekabolt is no different; a super simplistic platformer that lacks any real challenge – except to try and get through the game without becoming bored.

You play as a young lady who works at Mekapark, where robots are your friends and guides, stretching over forests, caves and deserts. Using the Mekabot weapon, you can disarm the robots as they have gone mad. To return the park to normal, you’ll need to find batteries in order to repair them.

Played out as a 2D platformer, expect around 100 levels to work your way through – though some of these are super small and done in seconds. Chances are most players will get through the entire game in around 2 hours all in all.

The majority of levels are pretty simply laid out, with just an obstacle or two to avoid. As this may imply, things aren’t exactly challenging as a result. This would be a great game for the younger generation who are just starting out in gaming.

The hazards and obstacles are also fairly generic, with the pretty standard flame throwers, blocks that disappear and good old spike traps. While I did die a few times, that was more out of my own insistence on rushing in order to get though, than any real challenge.

Enemies are at least quite varied, with different abilities to contend with. Shooting them causes them to stop moving, allowing you to use them as platforms to jump from or to solve levels. It never gets all that hard, or complicated, but it’s at least a neat touch.

Conclusion

While Mekabolt has some nice, colourful visuals and snappy controls, there simple isn’t really much else going on here that I can recommend. Level design is basic, there’s no real challenge and it all just feels a bit of a slog to get through. As with other Ratalaika games, achievement hunters will likely lap up it up, but anyone looking for a solid platformer is best off looking elsewhere.

This game was tested and reviewed on Xbox One. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version.