Everyone likes robots. I think. Obviously, some robots are nasty pieces of work. We don't like them. But little robots who just want to help out around the house? They're alright, aren't they? Slaving away on tasks we can't be bothered with. Good little robot.
Chibi-Robo!, then. A dinky little robot who just wants to pick up trash. Tiny scraps of paper and crumbs and whatnot - I don't think he's going to be hauling the trash bag out anytime soon. Every little helps, however, so let's roll up our robo-sleeves and get stuck in.
Fun Times
What is it with the Nintendo GameCube and dinky characters? Here's another one, viewing our world from a vantage point us massive humans don't stoop down to see unless trying to scoop something out from under the sofa.
It's Jenny's birthday today, but she's not too pleased with her mother's gift, insisting it's not fit for a frog to wear. Why does she think she's a frog? I don't know.
The family is full of characters, all given strange voices in an unknown language. Not Japanese. At least I hope not, otherwise, I might just have insulted someone.
What an entrance. We're destined for great things, coming into the picture like that. This is Chibi-Robo, and his mouthpiece of a manager, Telly Vision. Think Zelda's Link and Navi.
It's nothing mind-blowing or side-splitting, but it's cute humour. We are the centre of attention, but we've not got a birthday present for Jenny. We need to think fast and show everyone what we're capable of.
After making our choice of gift, we make our way across the table, fumbling a little with the controls, equipping helicopter blades that don't allow me to fly, and eventually scrambling up to the top of the vase by simply walking into it. No jumping, no ledge grabbing. If Chibi-Robo is capable of clambering up something, he will if you walk into it.
Well, we've made an impression on you, old man. Have we impressed the little lady, though?
Fantastic. A job well done. We're showered with Happy Points and some petty cash. Thank you very much, Jenny.
Happy Points are our goal as a Chibi-Robo. The more we get, the higher up the robot cleaner leaderboards we make it. And you want to become the very best robot cleaner there is, don't you?
Night descends. The perfect time to slip out and clean up.
Picking up garbage is as easy as pressing the A-button while standing in front of it, which dumps it into your head, which appears to have a black hole or something in it because there surely isn't enough room in there for any other explanation.
Making use of a toothbrush allows us to scrub up stains, and again, it's as simple as equipping the brush from your inventory and jabbing the A-button in the direction of the dirt.
The main thing to be aware of is that you're a dinky little robot running on battery power. At some point, you're going to need a recharge, and luckily, you've got a plug dangling out of your back, ready to be stuck into an outlet. If you could just find one in time...
After a short recharge and an optional game save, you're ready to return to work, picking up rubbish and exploring your new home.
Despite finding the garbage can, I couldn't find a way to empty the contents of my head into it. I'm sure I'll have to at some point. Until I figure that out, let's explore some more. I could do with finding another spot to recharge.
And that isn't one. Okeydokey. We're learning. What's the penalty for running out of juice?
Not much, it seems. And to get a battery to help us out requires us to find more money, so I guess we're just going to have to pay more attention to our energy levels next time out.
Frustrations
It's daytime now, and Jenny is drawing frogs, oblivious to our presence. We also learn that our headspace can only contain a certain amount of a given type of rubbish. I've still not found a list of the rubbish I hold within me, nor a way to dump it all into a garbage can.
Scrubbing up muddy paw prints rewards us with a 13 stain cleaning bonus. Everyone is happier with our work. Back to scrubbing, though.
Alright, seriously?
I ventured up to the couch for the first time, and it's as messy as the floor. How do these people live with themselves? Well, it turns out their relationships are strained. The father is jobless, the mother wants him to sleep on the couch and is mulling over getting a divorce, and poor Jenny is so distraught that she has descended into madness and thinks she's a frog.
Apparently, you learn all of this by exploring the house and interacting with its inhabitants, including a bunch of talking toys. Because all toys talk. That's how that works.
But I learned this by reading because I was bored of being a robot.
Final Word
Now, I'm not saying Chibi-Robo! is a boring game. It's not. Nor is it a tricky game to play, nor is it a confusing, frustrating experience. It's just a game that doesn't interest me. Picking up trash and dealing with relationships? That's life. Video games are my escape from life.
Having said that, I can see this game as an escape for someone. It's relaxing. There's something to be said of cleaning things up. It's good for your mental health. If I didn't have so much of it in my life, maybe diving into Chibi-Robo! will give me that fix. To be fair, I don't know. I stopped playing quite early on.
I bet there's a good time to be had here, and that I'm just a grumpy sod who wants to dismiss it and get it out of the way. I can live without playing Chibi-Robo! any more, but sometime, perhaps, I'll venture out of my robot home just a little further, and see what the game is really like. I mean, reading the plot makes this game so much more than a clean-it-up. And it's not quite a platformer, either.
It's got something going for it, I guess. Let me clean up my life a little before finding out for sure.
Fun Facts
In the early stages of development, you would have been ordering Chibi-Robo to defend the house against burglars in a point and click game.
Chibi-Robo!, developed by Skip Ltd., first released in 2005.
Version played: GameCube, 2006, via emulation.