If you and your partner are staying home due to the Corona Pandemic, this might be the perfect game to bring some enjoyment into your home. Biped is a simplistic but fun game that truly shines as the perfect co-op game. The puzzles go from fairly easy to challenging but nevertheless, they’re always solvable. Here’s our review!
Biped puts you in the mind of 2 robots that are on board “the onion” which seems like a service spaceship orbiting a planet. The service robots have nothing to do, except partying and playing games with each other until suddenly a flash disrupt them. The flash comes from a red beam that passes their spaceship targeting the planet below. The beam collapses on the planet and every single service beacon on the planet powered down. It’s up to the 2 service robots to boot up the beacons again, hoping to fix what has been broken.
You can play the game solo with an AI friend but the game’s a lot more fun when you’re playing with a friend, locally that is. I’ll spit it out immediately but this was a big letdown when I noticed that the game was only playable in co-op locally. Either way, playing with a friend brings out the best of this game. The mechanics are fairly simple but it’s a bit getting used to. You control your robot friends by moving both of the controller’s joysticks separately or in combination. Your left analog stick moves your left foot while the right joystick controls the right foot. By pointing your joystick up and holding, you’ll give direction to your foot in any way possible. You can stretch the foot or not, it depends on the gap you want to cross.
By pushing/ pulling these joysticks up and down at a decent pace, you’ll be able to walk. This system makes the puzzles a bit more challenging and the movement very funny. You can also put one foot out by pushing your joystick up and if you combine this action with a push-and-hold on your second joystick, the robot is able to skate on the surface that allows it to move a lot quicker. It’s good to have this option to catch up on some lost time. This simple mechanic of movement is the most important mechanic of the game. This mechanic also allows you to grab a hold of different items in the world. You can also break different objects by bumping into each other while skating. This mechanic is just a lot of fun when you put the controller into the hands of a comical duo!
Puzzles range from easy to a bit more challenging and cooperation is the main focus of these puzzles. You’ll have to perform synchronized moves to overcome different obstacles. Moving platforms in the combination with tapping your foot on the right color make up for some serious thinking. You’ll also have to figure out the right pacing when you’re moving on a moving platform together because one wrong move and you’ll have to start over. It’s good to know that the game offers different save points before you’re taking the puzzle head-on, so you won’t have to start over from the beginning. Believe me, it’s something unmissable in this game. Not to make it sound like this game is too hard, but frustration can often ruin cooperation, so you want to have a backup if you want to play the game on a different moment when things cool down! Some puzzles require you to work together the whole ten yards but there are also puzzles where each player has to fulfill his part. The 30 puzzles are a joy to conquer and most of the puzzles are unique.
The game offers these puzzle sections with a couple of conditions that give you the opportunity to solve the puzzles better than before. There are stars to collect, times to beat and secrets to unfold. At the end of each section, you’ll get a summary of how well you’ve performed. The better the results, the higher the number of coins you’ll get. These coins can be spent on different outfits or accessories for your robot. The only downside is the fact that these coins are in the same wallet as your partner, so you’ll have to try to get the most out of each section. It’s good to have a goal for yourself.
“Biped is a simple but fun game that truly shines as a co-op game.”
The world is full of bright colors, the sound design is decent and the different characteristics that every robot shows fits like a puzzle piece in the whole package. Every section of the world also has a distinct look and feel to it which makes these sections a lot more enjoyable. I haven’t noticed any glitches or bugs, so the game performs well on a technical level.
Conclusion:
Biped is a simple but fun game that truly shines as a co-op game. From the world design to the characteristics of the different robots, everything just fits the game like a glove. Mechanics are somewhat getting used to but once you get the hang out of it, it opens up a lot of comical situations. The game also performs technically very well and doesn’t have a lot of bugs. There were no glitches during puzzle-solving and the tips were most of the time very useful. I would definitely recommend the game if you want something fun, casual and playable with a friend.
