Steambot Chronicles review

This is not a good game to play when you're sleepy, unless you have trouble with insomnia and don’t like to take medication to deal with that problem. Even the most blisteringly action-heavy parts of Steambot Chronicles - the gladiatorial arenas, if you're curious - are pacifying and tranquil because they're just so simple, quirky and adorable. The game's simplicity and charm are what will make it so easy to go back to after it's sent you into controller-flinging fits of frustration.

Less aggressive parts of the game include waiting at traffic lights; discovering the reasons for your amnesia; choosing to be a hero or a cad; touring with a band or practicing an instrument; customizing your giant robot (aka Trot); or just dressing up your character until he's got a look worth taking a scrapbook photo of.

The customization of your character and his Trot is the best-realized of the plethora of things to do in Steambot, with meaningful, gameplay-affecting decisions mixed evenly with choices like whether to dress like a cowboy or a robber. Go into the garage and design the most devastating Trot possible or craft one with a custom kitten license plate and the ability to ferry people or products around town. There are no gang-bangers, gats, cyber-fetishism or even a cool, dangerous name that only an RPG character would have. You're Vanilla Bean, and that's that - you will be adorable! Bad, maybe - but adorable all the same.