Thanks to Digerati for the review code

Title: Don’t Die, Mr Robot! DX
System: Nintendo Switch (eShop)
Price: $9.99
Release Date: 05/03/2018

Presentation

Going for a single-screen experience, Don’t Die, Mr Robot (or DDMR as I’ll call it from here on out) meshes bright, colorful characters and items with wireframe backgrounds, alternating in color. The menus are easy to navigate, and there’s really nothing else to note about the visuals. From goofy looking evil TVs to mouth lasers, the enemy designs include a good amount of variety as well, although the generic music and annoying robo voice leave a lot to be desired.

Gameplay

DDMR offers several different modes to choose from, with three score attack modes (where the main goal is to rack up the highest score) and the main attraction of the game, Remix Mode. Remix Mode is a fun, engaging set of levels which each task you with completing a mini objective, from dodging a certain amount of enemies, gathering a certain amount of items, a certain amount of points, etc, acting both as a tutorial and a way to test your mastery in a bullet-hell arena of goodness. Each stage offers four ranks to achieve, styled after the Playstation trophy system, starting at bronze and heading up to Platinum, and each rank offers an extra point that helps lead to unlocking more sets of stages. For the main mode of the game, it’s a perfect blend of arcade goodness something to check out for sure.

Unfortunately, there’s a pretty big fault with the three score attack modes, one that’s completely baffling considering how it wasn’t a problem on the PSN version I played a while ago. That fault just so happens to be the total lack of any leaderboards whatsoever. Yes, for some baffling reason, despite this being a DX version, they actually removed a key feature from other versions! No online or local leaderboards to speak of for the three score attack modes, and it only records your highest scores for all three, which in turn really, really killed the game for me. While the nature of dodging everything to survive and carefully timing the collection of fruit to get the max chain can feel satisfying in the remix mode, it just doesn’t feel like you’re doing anything of importance when going for a high score due to the lack of leaderboards. Considering how such a simplistic game is perfect for hi-score fun, the mere notion of removing such a great feature confuses me to no end.

Conclusion

In conclusion, DDMR is an OK port of a decent game. While the Remix Mode offers plenty of fantastic challenges that will easily give you tons of hours if you aim for getting the highest rank on every single stage, the main part of the game itself is heavily neutered due to the removal of leaderboards, which makes the score attack modes feel quite pointless in this Switch port, even though the simplistic gameplay of those modes should make this a no-brainer pickup for the system. Sadly, I just wasn’t feeling the score attack modes in this version of the game, and I feel like there could have been a lot more effort to make this version worthy of the “DX” in the title. Still, the remix levels are fully intact, and they’re just as enjoyable as ever, so if you’re only in it for the single player modes, you’ll still have a fun, challenging and frantic time!

I give Don’t Die, Mr Robot! DX a 7 out of 10.