Who it Caters to (Use GR #1)
The Girl and the Robot is geared to those who like action, adventure and puzzle games meshed together. Set in a whimsical world, players must solve puzzles all while avoiding robots that impede your progress. While the girl herself can’t fight, she is joined by her own trusty robot friend who fights for her to keep her safe. The Girl and the Robot isn’t a very long game but the story and themes are unique enough for those who want something geared for children. Fight your way through this world and make your escape in The Girl and the Robot.

At about 2 hours long, The Girl and the Robot is a simple title for those who may be new to action and adventure games. Puzzles aren’t too difficult and the story is told with a left to interpretation theme. The Girl and the Robot is, at times, tough so be prepared to have to retry some sections multiple times. If this sounds appealing to you then you'll find yourself maybe wanting to try out The Girl and the Robot. For the low price of $14.99, The Girl and the Robot might be just the game for those who want to get use to the gaming scene.

Trapped inside a large tower lies a young girl. Luckily, an elderly man of unknown origins opens the girl’s prison and sets her free. As the girl ventures out of her prison, she will soon learn that something in this place is amiss. Finding a strange red necklace, the girl finds herself able to command a golden robotic knight who will keep her safe from various other robotic knights and an evil witch who seems to want to kill them both. Together, they must escape this place and hopefully find peace. Welcome to the tale of The Girl and the Robot.

The Girl and the Robot, at first glance, looks promising. It almost screams an Iron Giant feel—if anyone remembers that movie—and that intrigued us instantly here at Honey’s Anime. After about an hour and a half of playing, we reached the conclusion of the game and thus have our thoughts about it. If you would like to know what we thought about The Girl and the Robot, then continue forward for our full review. Trust us folks, we have a lot to say about The Girl and the Robot.

If you haven’t read the synopsis of The Girl and the Robot, then we shall start there. The Girl and the Robot is a third person action adventure title with puzzle elements. Players take control of both a small girl and a golden robot and must find a means out of their current situation. However, as you explore this odd tower/city in the sky you’ll have to deal with various threats such as other robots and an evil witch.

First let us discuss the controls for The Girl and the Robot. As soon as you begin, you’ll notice The Girl and the Robot controls awkwardly. That doesn’t mean it controls badly, mind you, as it’s easy enough to understand the almost Resident Evil-like tank controls, but in 2017, it’s very odd to say the least. Everything from the girl’s controls to the robot’s feels this way and we just felt it was maybe not the best decision to present a game like this.

Now, it’s also important to mention that we did say this is an action title as well as adventure one meaning expect some fighting. While the girl is unable to do more than run or throw switches, the robot is armed with a sword, shield and bow. During combat don’t ever expect to use the bow as it is utterly useless and the only weapon—it is required for puzzles though—you’ll ever need for a fight is the sword. Blocking is important from time to time but we got through about 85% of the game without ever doing more than using the robot’s three hit move of light and strong attacks. It feels clunky at times but overall works enough to do the job.

Another element that we should discuss is the puzzle themselves. The Girl and the Robot has about a dozen puzzles in its 1-2-hour play time and most are extremely simple. Usually a puzzle in The Girl and the Robot just requires you to manipulate floor switches all while switching between the girl and her robotic companion to hit different ones and different times. You might move a block or two and maybe pull a switch, but none of the puzzles in The Girl and the Robot take more than a few moments to solve and that is a really big issue. Bottom line, just like the combat of The Girl and the Robot, the puzzles are overly simple and clearly made for younger audiences.

Graphically, The Girl and the Robot looks pretty poor. Most of the environments, character models and few robot designs seem one color and very out dated. If this was solely for the Wii U—which The Girl and the Robot is playable on—we might be more understanding, but even the Wii U has better looking titles. The same can be said of the lackluster music—aside from the credits song—which is almost nonexistent in the first place but when it does play it just feels generic. Don’t expect much from The Girl and the Robot for a game of 2017 and that isn’t saying a good thing.

While usually we save all the negative themes of a game for the end of our gameplay section, we’ve already said so many negative comments that we figured we throw in some positive statements. First, for a first game developer Flying Carpets Games did an admirable job. Trust us folks, we’ve seen worse and that is from games with higher budgets and more status in the gaming world. Equally, the story of The Girl and the Robot is interesting with an ending that surprised us. Though it’s very—and we mean very—important to state that the ending of The Girl and the Robot may anger a lot of people if you don’t see it as a unique way of ending a fairy tale-like experience. While fully grown adults might not have much love for The Girl and the Robot, younger audiences may find a lot to love here and that is a good thing in that regard.

It’s very important to note that this is developer Flying Carpets Games’ first foray into the gaming scene. With that being said, The Girl and the Robot shows potential but is marred by a slew of problems that keep it from being great. Not only are the puzzles overly simple and the combat/controls extremely stiff but the graphics and overall design of The Girl and the Robot don’t fit this current generation’s expectation of a modern game. If the Girl and the Robot and released maybe several years ago, a lot of the issues we’ve had with it would have been considered minor but in 2017 people will expect a lot more and that makes recommending The Girl and the Robot a tricky thing to do. Maybe if you’re a parent and have a 10-year-old trying to get into action and adventure games, this will appeal to them but for anyone older you might want to look for other titles.

Honestly, we here at Honey’s Anime have played a lot of kickstarter titles out there in the video game scene. We can only imagine that for a new developer making any video game probably provides some tough challenges. The Girl and the Robot isn’t a horrible or even bad game, but it has problems that keep it from being anything more than mediocre at best. For $14.99, you may like The Girl and the Robot for younger audiences but everyone else should really consider maybe passing on this one for the time being. With that folks our review of the Girl and the Robot comes to an end but let us know your thoughts in the comments below. As always if you did like our review be sure to stick to us here at Honey’s Anime for even more game reviews and articles to read and enjoy.