First Look PSN #7

MicroBot by Naked Sky Entertainment / EA (2011) - PlayStation Network (PSN)

Exploring inside the human body in microscopic form isn't a particularly new concept for the gaming world but this latest effort by Naked Sky must surely be a contender for the most realistic attempt yet. You play as a teeny robot designed to fight infection, and are in fact the fourth generation of such a device. The previous three are still in the body and, after having apparently gone haywire, have caused a load of problems including many infections. The game takes the form of a twin-stick shooter with your job being to travel around the body destroying all of these ghastly viruses, curing diseases, and tracking down the pesky microscopic culprits themselves, which are found across five areas of the body which are each split into four procedurally generated stages.

Your craft, known as a 'MicroBot', oddly enough, is able to make use of a wide variety of weapons and gadgets which can be fixed to any available 'slot' on it. You can use more than one weapon at a time too, which is handy since there are a lot of spooky enemies to get rid of thanks to some Gauntlet-style 'generators' here and there. As you might imagine, the gameplay can get a little repetitive after a while but the audio/visual design is superb - you'll get pushed and pulled around by the body's fluidic 'currents', battered by blood cells as they rush past, there are some great boss battles, and it's all set to a wonderfully creepy soundtrack. It makes things much more interesting and puts a unique slant on a familiar type of game. A nice, action-packed take on the theme.

RKS Score: 4/5