It doesn't take a rocket scientist.
What do a cowboy sheriff, a chameleon, a monkey, and a giant robot have in common? Well, in addition to being living entities… not much. Yeah, reality tends to be disappointing like that. But RonimoGames has a much better answer: Awesomenauts!
Simply put, it's a 3-on-3 multiplayer downloadable title that has the strategic action of a League of Legends match condensed into a 2D platformer. To be more precise, it is strictly a drop-in/drop-out multiplayer title, with only a practice mode against AI bots as a way to get a quick warm-up session. The idea is to battle against a directly opposing team, tearing through their turret defenses and ultimately destroying their drill core.
That's because you're in a band of mercenaries trying to protect an off-planet dig site and take it over from other mercenaries who are trying to do the same thing to you. The setup is as quirky as the French tunes that play during the loading screens and the six-character roster, which features a re-engineered cowboy, a rough-'n'-tumble beatboxing frog, a French chameleon with cloaking powers, a giant robot with anger management issues, a monkey with a jetpack, and a psychotechnic healer who has a brain encased in glass for a head. It's wacky-shmacky fun.
Every match begins is a similar manner, with your team rocketing down from space onto the level below and hopefully collecting solar chips along the way. These chips can be found everywhere on the map and are redeemed at the upgrade station on your side. Purchasing abilities quickly and efficiently is key to getting the upper hand, especially since every character starts a match without any of their special abilities or health boosts.
At any time, you can teleport back to your base in several seconds to upgrade or recover at a healing station. Fleeing is a much better option than dying, as that gives the opposing team extra solar to spend and forces you to rocket back down to your side once more.
To gain passage to the enemy's drill, you need to protect continually spawning droids that will distract and absorb damage from turrets that block your advance. This will allow you to destroy them using your own weapons and powers without getting massacred; at the same time, you'll need to contend with the players on the other team and their own droids. It's a design meant to favor both tactical and action-oriented players who know when to attack or defend, when to jump or charge, and when to retreat back behind the safety of a turret.
Awesomenauts will arrive on PSN on May 1st in America, and PSN and Xbox Live for all territories on May 2nd.
