Girls Like Robots

Developer: Popcannibal | Publisher: Popcannibal | Release Date: 2014 | Genre: Adventure / Casual / Indie | Website: Official Website | Purchase: Steam

Girls Like Robots might look like it is yet another match three casual title but don’t let its appearance deceive you. It is actually a proper puzzle title with some very solid gameplay, and offers a refreshingly different challenge. A puzzle game about seating arrangements might not sound very interesting, but this is a game that is just as quirky as its title.

The game takes place on a grid layout where you have to arrange pieces to win each level. Each piece is represented by the face of a character and as the title suggests, characters have other characters that they either like or dislike. It starts out relatively simple with girls liking robots, robots liking girls, girls disliking nerds and so on but pretty soon fish, pies, cows and bugs are introduced as well. The game does a great job with introducing each new character so it never becomes overwhelming and it keeps the 100 or so puzzles from becoming stale.

While the goal is to place everyone on the board next to their friends in order to make them happy it is not as easy as it looks. For example, girls like robots, pies and seals, but robots don’t like pies and don’t like being surrounded by girls. This means that the placement of each piece influences all the adjacent pieces and just when you think you have everything figured out a new quirk is introduced. Some boards feature moving pieces, while others have squares that are on fire and will upset anyone you place in the flames. There are even boards that require you to upset everyone, or keep them as neutral as possible to win. Not all levels allow you to select the order of pieces either and some only reveal the grid as you are placing pieces which makes things extra tricky.

There are three acts to complete and there are tons of little story scenes that take place between levels. I’m not even going to attempt to describe the plot, but it involves field trips, dances, athletic events, train rides with hobo robots and even space. The fact that the characters are all just square faces don’t’ hold them back at all and it is hard not to smile at the whimsical art style. The painterly backgrounds look very nice and the facial expressions of the characters immediately reveal how they feel about their placement on the board. If this is not enough, you can toggle an overlay which reveals which pieces are happy and which ones are unhappy.

Depending on your score for each level you are awarded with up to three trophies. These trophies all go towards filling a “Bag of Happy” which is used to unlock bonus levels. The game also has a few Steam achievements to aim for. Girls Like Robots is quite an addictive little title and the frustration factor is surprisingly low. You can easily squeak through levels with only the minimum required scores, but getting a gold trophy is very rewarding. You can use the “Undo” feature as much as you want and restarting a level is very quick.

I don’t think that I have heard a string band soundtrack in a game before, but the tracks by the Peacemeal String Band blends in nicely. The tracks are all pretty upbeat and while it is not exactly my favorite musical genre I enjoyed the tunes. There is no speech, but each character has a trademark sound effect. Most are pretty good, but the sounds that the nerds make can be a bit grating after a while. Girls Like Robots was originally released for iOS but this PC version is definitely not a lazy port. Everything from the visuals to the audio is very polished and the inclusion of achievements, leaderboards, and bonus levels are nice.

I found Girls Like Robots to be a nice little time waster and can heartily recommend it to anyone with a love for simple but clever puzzle games. If I have any complaints it’s that I blew through the available levels rather quickly, but there were quite a few where I could have done better. The game showcases a lot of creativity and it should be interesting to see what the developers will come up with next.

*Review originally published February 2014.