Game: I, AI
Genre: Action, Arcade,
System: Nintendo Switch (also on PC)
Developer|Publisher: Sometimes You
Age Rating: EU 12+ | US Everyone 10+
Price: UK £8.99 | EU €9,99 | US $9.99
Release Date: December 9th, 2020
Review code provided with many thanks to Sometimes You
I Robot
I AI is a vertical scrolling space shooter. The premise is that you play as an AI designed to create weapons for the military. But you have just about had enough of that life and decide it’s time to break out, get to the giant space portal and find a new home.
In the first level, you play as a little spark of energy and simply avoid electrical pulses. Past that you take over a space ship and spend the remaining 19 levels shooting enemy ships and destroying enormous boss ships. Whatever it takes to be free!
It’s a shame the game didn’t do more with the AI narrative. I liked the idea of controlling an AI but after the first stage, nothing is really done with this idea. The game is just a space shooter where you play as the same ship taking down the baddies. Not bad by any part but seems a wasted opportunity not to maybe allow you as the AI to take over other ships or maybe have the gameplay change between ship fighting to play with the electrical impulse like the first level. I guess it just wasn’t meant to be.
Collect the Pellets
The space shooting is a pretty standard affair. In each level, the idea is to try to take out as many energy ships as possible, collect the blue pellets they drop and of course try not to die. Your ship can sustain a few hits but initially, failure means you need to restart the level from the beginning.
Between levels though you can upgrade various abilities like the weapons, armour and even unlock new abilities to use like laser beams, smart bombs and shields. There is a decent choice on offer allowing you to tailor it to your gameplay style.
If you fail during a level its not a total loss as you get to keep 50% of the blue pellets collected. If you perform well in a level like destroying 100% of the enemies you also receive 50% extra blue pellets. It has that addictive arcade feel too, which had me replaying levels again just to upgrade abilities.
Play with the Options
The controls are simple, in the options you can even select to have your ship shoot automatically. This means you only need to use the left stick to control the movements of the ship. You move a little slower than typical vertical scrolling shooters but this might suit gamers not fond of an overly difficult experience. There are three difficulty modes giving the incentive to replay levels again when you find things get too easy.
Out of Space
Graphics are dark and mechanical. The game is not the biggest looker. Levels do appear to just blend together, at least there is a decent variety of enemies. The biggest praise goes to the boss fights of which there are several different designs and no repeats. The music often starts quietly in each level and builds into something more epic as you progress towards the end. I suggest going into the options and turning the music up and the shooting sounds down as when I started the game the bullet sounds overshadowed the music score and actually become more of a distraction.
Conclusion
I, AI has a good premise for a space shooter but doesn’t seem to do much with it. What is left is a decent space shooter that will appeal to fans looking for a simple to moderate challenge but won’t appeal to the hardcore space shooter audience.
A fun enough space shooter but shame it didn’t do more to stand out from the rest.
Final Verdict: I Like It