Review: Yorbie Episode 1: Payback’s a Bolt

Posted by Collin on March 29th, 2015 | 2 Comments | Tags: Happy Dance Games

As a full, standalone game, Yorbie Episode 1: Payback’s a Bolt is not an episodic game series, which means future episodes will not be free. Yorbie is a third-person action game that most resembles that of a Ratchet and Clank game, and more specifically, its sequel All 4 One. The left analog stick moves the character and the right analog stick aims your weapon. The game uses an automatic lock-on to easily attack enemies, and the right trigger is used to fire.

There isn’t much in the way of a story in Yorbie. The evil Dr. Zox has taken over the universe and it is up to you, the last remaining AI robot, named Yorbie, to reclaim the universe. The task is to get to the end of each level to get closer to defeating Dr. Zox. It all ends up with an unsatisfying conclusion with a very frustrating final level that leaves a sour taste in your mouth once the game is complete.

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Yorbie’s repertoire includes a melee attack and six different weapons that each has a unique feature. The problem is that most of the weapons are ineffective and unsatisfying to use. The Mincer Jr. is the only standout weapon, which is a machine gun that can tear right through enemies. Each of the weapons can be upgraded three times and players can choose from three upgrades: fire rate, firepower and magazine size. Players can choose to upgrade a weapon three times with the fire rate upgrade, or twice with the fire rate upgrade and once with the firepower upgrade. These upgrades can also be reset, so you can re-spec each of the weapons. Weapons are upgraded by breaking boxes and finding the cogs that are inside. Cogs are also obtained by defeating enemies. Energy, found from enemies, is also used to upgrade and buy weapons, but aren’t as frequent as cogs. Collecting cogs can become tedious, as once a section of enemies is defeated, I found myself running around trying to break each box for the cogs that are inside. Cogs can become glitched into the environment as well, leaving them unattainable. My character also became stuck in the environment multiple times, forcing me to restart a few levels. The game crashed on me a few times as well.

There are only 2 modes. First is the Normal Game and the second is the Insane Game. The only difference is that in Insane Game, the enemies are tougher and your character takes more damage. Five levels round out the short experience. I was able to complete the entire game on Insane Game in a little over an hour, and that included trying to collect every cog I could. Each level can also be played in local co-op with up to 4 players. Yorbie is the only original character, as the three other playable characters are copies of enemies that you fight in the game. In co-op, the game restricts movement. If one character goes too far left of the screen and the other goes too far right of the screen, both players will be unable to move unless they come closer together. This is the frustrating part. It is hard to see and collect cogs or shoot enemies when movement is restricted and the camera does not show you what you need to see. As for the music, the tracks are repetitive but well done, so I didn’t mind hearing the same track over again.

Overall, Yobie is enjoyable for a few moments until you see past its bland weapons and tedious cog collecting. Only 5 missions and 2 difficulty settings doesn’t help much to broaden the overall short experience. It all ends in an unsatisfying conclusion that isn’t worth the $20 price tag. There are more games in the Yobie universe planned, but for now, Episode 1: Payback’s a Bolt leaves you wanting more.

A copy of this game was provided by the publisher for review purposes. For more info on our review policy click here.