Nothing about the oddity in Robot Unicorn Attack Heavy Metal Edition is surprising if you’ve spent more than a few minutes watching Cartoon Network’s bizarre Adult Swim block of programming.
Of course, you control a robot unicorn who is flying down the dilapidated cliffs of hell while heavy metal music plays in the background. Why wouldn’t you be!?
The real question isn’t: “Is this too weird?” But rather, “Is it any fun?” Because once you get past the goofy fonts and metal music, there has to be some reason to keep playing.
In that regard, Robot Unicorn Attack Heavy Metal Edition succeeds in some respects. On the plus side, the app, which has you running your unicorn until you hit one of the game’s several barricades is incredibly easy to get into. There are two buttons, one makes your horse jump, and the other is a dash that you can use to smash through the odd skulls that lay in your path.
The jumping comes in handy because Robot Unicorn Attack is basically a platform on rails with some added speed. There’s not much time for sound decision-making when you’re just trying to jump enough to stay alive. That works as part of the app’s appeal. Anyone can play this instantly, and be sort of good at it. Players earn points based on how long they stay alive.
That said, it’s very hard to stay alive. Once you’ve fallen off a cliff a few dozen times, or jumped right into a stalactite formed from a pile of skulls, there doesn’t appear to be major incentive to keep playing unless you’re trying to beat a friend’s high score. There are leaderboards, thanks to OpenFeint, so you can spend hours trying to top other players’ scores, but there’s not much else to the app.
Robot Unicorn Heavy Meal Edition has miles of style, it looks decent visually, and runs smoothly, but it’s not quite a must-have app unless you’re a serious Cartoon Network aficionado. There are better, less-abrasive casual gaming apps if that’s what you’re in the mood for. But if you want something decidedly eclectic, you’ll certainly get a kick out of this gaming app.
