Otto Matic

"I’d give you a witty tag, but I cannot think of one. Blame Fakeplasticmanatree"

Otto Matic: Defender of the Human Race, Ruler of all that he Surveys, Conqueror of the Brain Aliens. Or something like that. Otto doesn’t care what titles you give him, because he’s a fiery little robot, so long as he can save the human race, destroy some evil aliens and lay claim to their Planet, known by it’s detailed name of Planet X.

Otto’s view of the world is slightly convoluted. Cities don’t exist there. Instead, all humans are country bumpkins in their mid to late seventies, semiretired farmers that do not want to throw away their last hold on the world and end up in a home. Otto Matic’s powers are so magnificent that by merely touching them, he can save them by summoning a teleporter beam to hold them, out of the reach of the vile Brain Aliens.

Apparently the defeat of the Brain Aliens by Otto -- using items like ray guns in addition to his strong, steel fists -- is not enough to keep the humans safe, since he feels the need to take them hostage as well. But it’s just as well that they are out of the way, because Mr. Otto Matic needs to scrounge among their fields and between their white picket fences looking for crystals of various hues to keep him alive. Blue ammunition crystals for his ray gun, red crystals to improve his health and repair him, and green crystals so that his jet pack can move him across the screen and through fence gates in record time.

The control scheme for Otto Matic involves the lower keyboard functions: Option, open apple, Control, and Space Bar are going to carry out most functions, along with return. The mouse only plays a role on the menus, as all navigation is done with the arrow keys. This control makes Otto Matic almost feel like an eye candy filled Apple II game, because control only with keyboard these days is a rarity.

Well, to be considered eye candy, Otto Matic would have to be on a system more primitive than it is. Obviously not an Apple II, but its visual quality fits in with that of a PlayStation launch game, and certainly not one recently released for the Macintosh. Slowdown runs rampant, character designs are not made of nearly enough polygons, and the background is just a light blue wall beyond the picket fences and farm houses that are actually in play. Pangea Software would probably tell you that it was to create the illusion of the American plains, how one can see the blue sky for miles upon unpolluted miles. The truth is that they were just lazy. Otto Matic is not even an original game -- it utilizes the same controls, graphical engine, combat engine, and level designs as Bugdom did, a game from 2000. It even replicates the slowdown problems and framerate issues. New characters were just imposed into these levels with a simplistic back story. Now later on in the game, when Otto goes to Planet X, the level designs are then original, but for a large portion of the game, they were recycled.

Luckily the Bugdom music has been altered, taking a route that hearkens to the end of the game, with galactically inspired music being quite dominant, and even the country music of the early levels on earth having an interstellar twang to it. It fits in with the flow of the stage well, and it is kind of amusing for anyone who knows the back story. Since Otto Matic is a children’s game, the music is quite simple and is all done through the usage of synthesizers, typical for the genre. But we have already established that Otto Matic does not break any molds.

The sound effects are not groundbreaking either, but they still add some audio depth to a game that’s more about skin-deep than Anna Nicole Smith. Otto’s movement naturally sounds metallic, with a robotic echo of sorts. The ray gun sound fittingly futuristic, and a classic noises that all have heard before plays whenever a crystal is picked up. Despite the use of cliched sounds, Pangea Software combined them into a package that is actually the most pleasing aspect of the game.

Fun? After all this complaining you could think I found Otto Matic fun? Nope -- I cannot say repetitive action that is exactly the same as in a game I played two years ago does it for me. There’s not enough depth in the game to entertain me, but it easily could have been good -- some more weapons, innovative level designs, level objectives other than rescuing humans so stupid that they stand still while an alien spaceship hovers above their head slowly lowering a transporting beam.

Part of the reason that Otto Matic is not fun is because the dearth of difficulty in the game, even in the final levels. The game can easily be breezed through by even a five year old who sat themselves down and concentrated on beating it -- assuming they would not get bored out of their wits by the repetitive action. That’s why chances are slim that Otto Matic will be a game that gets replayed frequently by gamers.

Otto Matic himself is a great new character, a robot on a mission, one who could easily end up starring in a long-running series in today’s market. But his freshman effort is simplistic, a blatant rip-off, and should not even be subjected to children -- the target market -- for playing. The kitsch is there, the puzzles always present, but nothing to hold your interest for more than a few minutes. Stay away, or the Brain Aliens may wish that your brain had told you to do so.

PROS
*Introduces a new, lovable character to the world of video gaming. He even has a little personality!
*Games that come to the Macintosh are always a pleasant surprise.
*Saving the human race! Whohoo!

CONS
*Blatantly rips off the Pangea Software standby, Bugdom, in almost every aspect.
*Keyboard controls can take a while to get used to.
*Graphics are so old looking that carbon-dating may be needed to identify them.

SCORE SUMMARY

GAMEPLAY--5
GRAPHICS--1
MUSIC--3
SOUND--7
CONTROL--6
FUN--3
CHALLENGE--LOW
REPLAY VALUE--LOW

OVERALL--3

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 08/04/02, Updated 08/04/02