Awesomenauts Review

Awesomenauts stays true to it's name!

Awesomenauts is a game deserving of major props. Awesomenauts is an Xbox Live and PSN downloadable game. The game system is rather simple really. Choose a character, set your loadouts, kill enemies, destroy turrets and ultimately the bases for victory. What really sets the game in motion is the strategy involved, the farming for Solar (the games version of exp), choosing which Loadout to buy at what time and how to use each character. All these mechanics separate a good team from a bad team.
The game is always the same 3 vs. 3 style but with 3 different maps and 6 different characters to choose from. The character the game first introduces to you is the basic ganker Lonestar. An eccentric space cowboy that specializes in materializing a bull to push enemies back and grenades that explode with deadly force. Depending on what loadouts you choose, whether you increase upon damage output, grenade strength or grenade count can really make a huge difference.

Then there's the tank, Clunk, an over-sized slow robot with a missile launcher for an arm. This tank specializes in health steal and AOE damage induced by self-destructing. Don't worry it's not what you think. The self-destruct only does little damage to you and with a certain loadout you can decrease the damage it causes to yourself. If you build a strong loadout for his health steal and get a good farm, you're an unstoppable wall.

Clunk destroys one of the neutral minions for health.

Then there's Leon, the french chameleon that can vanish by invisibility and can pull people in with a quick tongue lash. Leon is basically the assassin of Awesomenauts, able to restore health 3 different ways, slash a powerful strike when invisible and becomes one of the best gankers in the game if used properly. Leon can be a little tricky considering his low defense but give him the health and the strength and you best stay away. Another neat trick of Leon's is when going invisible he leaves a nice little decoy to distract enemies. Use it wisely and one can escape from any combat.

Don't fret about unsuccessful pushes, have a medic help you out, that's Voltar's job. A brain in a jar mechanics expert. Voltar doesn't do much damage, aside from the droids he can spawn to assist him, but his attack is replaced by a health beam. That's not enough? Try adding a medic droid that has an AOE heal for all team mates for a certain time or until the droid is destroyed. A player can place one of these and have a push against a turret without worry over anyone dying.

Voltar and Yuri attack an enemy turret.

Next there's Yuri, the jet pack flying lazer shooting monkey. Yeah...A weird set of characters. Yuri can be one of the best turret and base destroyers. His lazer, if range increased, can destroy them from a distance in the air almost out of the turrets range of fire. His abilities also include a time slow that can slow the enemies around him, leaving them nice and open for a lazer death. Let's not forget this monkey's tactical placement of mines that explode on contact. There is no limit to the mines just have to wait for the cooldown to end.

And last but not least...No seriously they're planning more characters as DLC, there's Froggy G. The gangster frog that can leave you stunned. His splash dash and tornado abilities are freakishly powerful, so stack a good loadout on that and dash away. The splash dash can stun an enemy while the tornado is just a general attack, albeit with a lot of speed. Froggy G is the one you want to use when you want a quick kill gank or to stun one with low health.

All in all the characters are all unique with varying uses and abilities. So pick your best load out and fight! Once again the game is a 3 on 3 with 3 or 4 turrets based on what map is picked. Destroy the turrets, get to the enemy base and destroy it. Despite me making it sound easy, believe me when I say this: It's not! Try winning with a team that's feeding and going 0/6. Yeah, that's no good. Still, the game stands to be a beauty and definitely worth the money. Yet I find the game lacking a certain story mode...

8/10