Happy Room: Robo Review

Had a bad day? Just need to unwind, maybe cause some massive destruction with various weapons to a poor robot designed specifically for this sort of special torture? Welcome to Happy Room: Robo!

Happy Room - a bit of a call back to classic browser game full of blood, guts, and destruction - Happy Wheels, is a game that takes place in one room. You are given various weapons to use against a defenseless dummy or robot, and the goal is to cause as much destruction as possible. The weapons range from crossbows and spikes to portals and piranha fish. From traditional to unusual, the weapons that you can get are very vast and imaginative.

Some may be familiar with this game, as it is a PC title. Happy Room is, at least. Happy Room: Robo, which is available on Android devices, has some rather distinct changes from the PC title. Firstly, rather than a crash-test style dummy, the dummy has been replaced by a robot. Secondly, rather than the blood spatter a player gets from the PC version’s dummy, the robot spouts sparks and smoke. I’m certain there are reasons behind this, such as the rating for the mobile game. Happy Room: Robo is rated ages 10 and up, not a rating they would have gotten with the crash-test dummy (who looks rather human) and the buckets of blood.

Don’t get me wrong, the game is still fun in this form. The ability to take it anywhere is a huge perk. Say something gets me frustrated at the office, or while I’m out for dinner. I can pull out Happy Room: Robo, take part in some destructive experiments, and go on with my day. Very theraputic. Would I rather have had blood instead of sparks and smoke, though? Yes.

I spent some time even trying to find if there was perhaps an option to change to the PC versions settings, but all signs pointed to nope. It felt almost like the days of Mortal Kombat, as if I was hoping there was some sort of secret blood code. I suppose I’ll just have to get the PC game for the full experience.

Despite this change, Happy Room: Robo has a great art style and is very imaginative. The creators at Mana Potion Studios really took their time to create as many strange and interesting ways to blow a robot up or cause destruction and it shows. The music in the game is even cute and cheery, something that adds to the enjoyment. Not all of the weapons work quite as you’d like, some seeming low-powered at first, and they all tend to run out after a few uses. They can be upgraded, though, and the more tasks you complete, the more points to upgrade as well as the more weapons you get.

The tasks are all listed along the top of the screen and include such things as shoot the dummy in the head 15 times or travel 20 meters on saws. Delightful tasks I will gladly take part in. There are ads and in-app purchases, but I didn’t find them too distracting personally. There is also a sandbox mode that you have to earn by dealing enough damage in the standard game.

Possibly the sweetest thing is that Mana Potion Studios actually took the time to put a note before the game loads encouraging people to share videos and images of the game. Also, Mana Potion Studios has responded to quite a few of the reviews in the Google Play store, which is very nice to see. The fact that Mana Potion Studios seems to be more than happy to interact with fans shows a great drive within the company, and I’m looking forward to seeing more from them. Despite its changes from the PC version, Happy Room: Robo is a great mobile game that loads quickly and is super fun. I highly recommend giving it and its PC counterpart a try.