Robo5: simple, fun and free puzzle game

Robo5 takes cool steampunk style and draws it in fun, cartoon artwork to provide hours of both casual and intense gameplay. The concept of the game is simple, but you can tell that's exactly what the developers were aiming to accomplish. It's hard to argue with the combination here, especially when it's free to play for a large set of levels and just $1.99 to unlock it all.

Hang with us after the break and see a little more about what makes Robo5 a fun game.

Robo5 is just as simple as it looks when it comes to understanding the controls and interface, but there are plenty of more advanced moves that will help you later. You're a cartoon robot, and the goal is to climb up a structure of boxes and platforms to reach the exit at the very top. The first set of levels work as a primer to get the hang of the controls and mechanics of the game. It uses a mixture of quick hints at the top of the screen along with a hand showing the proper swiping motion to get the point across.

Once you get the controls and mechanics down, things are pretty simple. You (as in, the robot) use all manors of pushing, pulling, jumping and climbing to get up the structure. For general movement, you tap on a position, which will make your character move just one box (or space) at a time. Tapping the side lets you hang on and move across boxes, while tapping the top makes you jump up. Wooden boxes can be manipulated with a swipe to the direction you want them to move, while the steel boxes are stuck where they are. 

If the cartoon styling wasn't any indication, we're not looking at realistic physics in Robo5. It takes some getting used to, but boxes will continue to be fully supported and "float" as long as they are touching another surface on at least one edge. This seems trivial in early levels, but is the only way to complete some of the later levels. Once you stop forgetting the mechanic is there, you'll be able to use it to your advantage to scale the tower faster.

Speaking of timing, the points system when completing levels is based on the number of bonus boxes you collect, the time it took to complete, and the number of power-ups you found along the way. You then get a star rating -- one, two or three -- based on how the different components add up. At certain milestones of unlocking stars, you start to have access to the "Diary" levels. If you're not impressed by the complexity of the regular levels, you're in for some fun with the Diaries -- they put your puzzle-solving skills to the test.

There is a free version of Robo5 available that has a limited, but actually quite large, set of levels to play. With an in-app purchase of $1.99, you'll unlock all 40 levels, 8 diaries and 2 separate endings to the game. If the styling and gameplay seem interesting to you, definitely give Robo5 a try at the Play Store link above. There's more to this game than you can see at first glance, offering a great mixture of casual gameplay and tough puzzles all wrapped in beautiful graphics.