Game Review: Chibi-Robo for Gamecube - Is it worth it's weight in parts?
Chibi-Robo’s Story Line (4 out of 5)
Let me introduce you to Chibi in Chibi-Robo. He’s a shiny metal robot that if he were real would stand no taller than a pencil. In the game he gives off a very micro impression, seeing that his surroundings are all gigantic.
Chibi-Robo was purchased as a gift for the Sanderson family’s daughter. Packaged with Chibi was another character called Telly Vision. Telly Vision is basically a small talking floating Television set that is primarily Chibi’s tutorial.
In Chibi-Robo, Chibi’s main goal is to bring happiness to his new family, and to power up to Super Chibi. He can however only obtain this title by completing missions, and puzzles that will be set up around the environments in Chibi-Robo. As he completes more and more missions he will get an upgrade.
Chibi-Robo is really a lot of fun. A little metal robot runs back and forth through a house cleaning up after his new family, and bringing order to things. Directing Chibi to clean and perform tasks are amusing on the eye, and the sounds that play while he goes about say mopping, or wiping up dirt make the game all the more enjoyable.
Chibi though is given time limits. With each day he wakes up from his sleeping chamber and is given a set amount of time to complete the task. I found the timing aspect of the game to fit perfectly, where many others complain about the time restraints. I find that time limits only begin to aggravate when toward the end of Chibi-Robo. Besides that though you will have plenty of time to explore, clean, and
build.
You see Chibi runs off of electricity, so when he is running low on power, he must run to a wall outlet and plug himself in. Once he plugs in he will re-charge. You come to a cut scene, and it becomes a new day. If you failed to complete the tasks at hand before plugging in or running out of power, you will have to start over.
The beginning of Chibi-Robo pretty much starts off like any in game tutorial. You are set in the family room to learn the basic controls. You will find objects that Chibi will keep in order to perform tasks throughout the game. For instance, a toothbrush becomes his cleaning utensil, a spoon becomes his shovel, and a broken chopper blade becomes his means to gliding from high surfaces to the ground. It’s quite entertaining to see what objects Chibi will come across to put to use!
As the game continues you realize that Chibi-Robo has a lot more to deal with than cleaning up trash and stains around the house. It seems the Sanderson family are falling apart at the seams, with Mr. Sanderson being kicked out of the bedroom while his wife sits in and cries. Chibi has a lot of work ahead of him in order to bring order back into this dysfunctional family.
Chibi-Robo can earn happy points by completing certain tasks. In the beginning of Chibi-Robo, getting happy points was easy, and they could be used to buy upgrades. Happy points are also used to complete other tasks which Chibi will encounter along the way. Chibi can also buy battery upgrades which will allow him to venture through the environments for a longer amount of time. The better the battery, the longer game-play he has ahead of him for the day. Battery upgrades are a must if you plan on continuing on to the end of the game.
What makes Chibi-Robo so addicting in my opinion is the environment that it all occurs in. In the game you are pretty much confined to one house; exploring what this house has to offer though satisfies the hunt, peck and find nature in many gamers. Chibi has access to searching close to every nook and cranny there is available in the home. You will come across bedrooms, a kitchen, living room, hallways, the backyard and more. He can search through larger dresser drawers, spot crumbs under couches, and crawl under
beds with ease. Exploring the entire house from top to bottom is just fun, plus you will be collecting happy points with each find!
Of course though there are enemies in the game. The introduction to lethal enemies though does not really occur all that quickly in the game. The beginning enemies you come across are all easy to steer clear of, or kill. As the game goes on though enemies do pose a threat, but it is not a very challenging one.
Mostly you will be wandering around the home, pecking through the same rooms for new discoveries and solving puzzles along the way to becoming a Super Robot.
Graphics in Chibi-Robo (5 out of 5)
As I stated earlier, the graphics in Chibi-Robo are what makes this game so visually inviting.
The house your robot will rummage through all features gorgeous graphics. Floors shine, fabrics look real, and things just seem life-like. I especially admired the graphics in Chibi-Robo, and give the developers major kudos on the fine detail put into it. For those of you who love colorful games with good graphics, or who are looking for a fun game for the kids, Chibi-Robo is one that you need to check out.
Music & Sounds in Chibi-Robo (4 out of 5)
Music plays lightly in the background, but frankly nothing sticks out as spectacular or viral in my opinion. So, if you like listening to music while you are gaming, I would suggest plugging in your favorite CD or turning on the radio while playing Chibi-Robo.
The sounds of Chibi-Robo however definitely deserve mention. For a few examples, while Chibi cleans things you will hear it squeak, when the family speaks they have a funny horn trumpet like sound to them followed with reading text. The sounds throughout Chibi-Robo are comical and deserving to be mentioned for this reason. The creators of the game did a great job in creating a funny environment with the sounds themselves. They add a great atmosphere to the game and make it more enjoyable.
Overall (4 out of 5)
All in all, Chibi-Robo is an excellent game. It does not have all that much of a re-play value though. I found that once I completed the game I had no real interest to come back to it. But, Chibi-Robo does however offers hours and hours of game play and for that alone it is worth the purchase.
The graphics are stunning for the console, the 3D environment’s are all very real looking, and you get a total sense of invading someone else’s home while they are there, digging through their things, and seeing what makes them tick.
The game overall gives off a feeling of Honey, I Shrunk The Kids; only this game features a pint sized robot as the main character.
This post is part of the series: Chibi-Robo Guide
A collection of articles about Chibi-Robo.
