Help cute little robots get past obstacles and activate beacons so they can return home in Biped.  You don’t control these robots in the typical fashion, though.  You use the L and R analog sticks to move their legs so you can make them walk, slide, flip switches and levers, and other things.  There are two player co-op and single player modes, and you can download Biped on PS4, Switch, and PC, but it’s reviewed on PS4 here.

To make your robot move its legs, you’ll press the L or R stick to make the left or right leg move in any direction, and then release it to put your foot down again.  Do this in an alternating fashion to walk.  You can also grab onto certain objects by holding your leg in that direction, and then you can move the leg to turn levers, or place your foot down to push buttons.  On smooth surfaces, you can press both L and R sticks in directions to skate and slide around, which makes movement easier.

There are two modes of play.  You can work together in co-op mode, in fact the game encourages this as it’s the first option.  Or you can play single player.  The one player levels are different than the two player ones, so it’s nice they gave both modes as much thought.  You can collect hidden coins and sun symbols in each level for an extra challenge.

I do like the cute robots, as they look like something out of WALL-E, and the colorful graphics remind me of a long lost GameCube game (which is a good thing).  And it seems as though the makers of the game tried hard to make the game understandable, as in they put markers under your feet so you know where you are going to step and such.  But even so, I just couldn’t get used to the controls.  A few levels in and I was already getting frustrated.  It’s even worse when you have to depend on another player in co-op.  And since the game is physics based, it can be really easy to catch your leg on a ledge and fall off.  I’m just not a big fan of games that make things more challenging by messing with the controls.

Kid Factor:

If you fall off a ledge, your robot just teleports right back to a checkpoint and has a word balloon with a broken heart over its head, but that’s about as violent as it gets.  Reading skill is helpful for some of the text, and younger gamers may get frustrated at the difficult controls.  Biped is rated E for Everyone.

Tags: Game Reviews