You're traveling on a deserted countryside roadway in your trotmobile - picture a Volkswagen beetle with arms, legs, and artillery. A bandit in a similar vehicle demands you turn over your money - or the girl you're riding with.
She's a cutie in fishnet stockings, but you've only known her for about 15 minutes. What do you do? Whether you'd prefer to fight for her honor or drop her, you'd probably get a kick out of Steambot Chronicles - since you can do either. The game brings together bright and detailed graphics, perverse humor and action, along with something we still don't get that much of: choice.
Want to lie? Want to tease? Well, in Steambot Chronicles, that's exactly what you can do. The game opens with a multiple choice quiz asking how you'd react to certain situations - like comforting a crying friend, or grabbing some lost money - and runs from there. The main character, Vanilla, suffers from a case of amnesia. But that lets you build his identity through your actions, for once making a tiresome RPG cliché into something more.
Mere minutes after the story begins, Vanilla finds himself piloting a Trotmobile. These simple - and pretty small - two-legged mechs are the way to get around in the world of Steambot Chronicles. Of course, they're also what you use to smack the hell out of other Trotmobiles. This is an adventure game with lots of choices to be made, but sometimes you run out of choices. That's where combat begins. It's not just other Trotmobiles you'll be taking on, either - the first boss is a colossal, jointed, walking ship. It's kind of like an AT-AT circa 1925.
