Oh boy.
Oh boy oh boy oh boy.
Have I got a treat for you, faceless yet beloved reader. It's Robot Unicorn Attack from Adult Swim, the game where you race a magical robotic unicorn across a purple landscape and smash stars before they can smash you.
The game does all the running for you. All your hooves have to do is tap [Z] to jump, tap it again to double-jump, and tap [X] to perform a dash attack that will break through stars. While in mid-air, you can actually hold [Z] after you've jumped to glide majestically for a bit. 
Avoid running into obstacles, and falling into the fathomless pit that is the magical robot unicorn realm, and collect floating... fairy... things for points. You've got three lives, or "wishes" in this case, and at the end your score is tallied up. You can then use said score to brag to all your friends about how good you are at racing pretty unicorns while remaining blissfully ignorant of their glazed expressions. That's... pretty much it. There's no real pay-off for your glorious stampede other than increasingly bigger numbers and the knowledge that you've just spent minutes you'll never get back listening to Erasure. Ridiculous? Absolutely. But since when did you need to take yourself seriously to have fun?
Alright, so it's essentially Canabalt with a robot unicorn, and sometimes a robot dolphin. But while it's just as addictive as Canabalt, it's not quite as polished. There are far too many leaps of faith the further you get into the game, and it's also desperately in need of some variation in the scenery department. I don't know about you, but I've always envisioned the realm of the robot unicorns to look a bit more magical than that. Or at least not quite so empty and boring.
It's a bright, colourful, cotton-candy puff of a game, and while it's hardly the most substantial offering out there, it's easily one of the most unique. Forget that it's a game so frilly and sparkly even a six-year-old girl might raise an eyebrow at it. Forget that I'm going to be making fun of you for singing along. Instead, just let go, feel the wind in your glorious mane... and believe.
Yet another fun game report by Dora :)
Keep up the good work, I like reading your stuff!
OMG - a dolphin!
no, really!
I think this review failed to adequately take into account the force of my fantasies. This game is exactly what I hope for most when I close my eyes and allow myself to dream without reserve... rainbows and all.
Oh my god. I can't decide if I love or hate that music. It is definitely stuck in my head now.
Not sure why, but my Z key does not seem to work during the game play. I can press Z to get through the menu items, but in the game I plummet into the first big chasm over and over again, no key on my keyboard seems able to make the unicorn jump :(
The music is the perfection that vaults this game from "amusing diversion" to "totally awesome 80's fantasy adventure."
Now if I could only figure out what movie soundtrack it's from.
This game is incredibly fantastic. The music, the graphics, and the pace of the gameplay are all perfect.
In the interest of constructive criticism, I do have a few complaints, though.
The fairies are worth so little that there's no point in chaining them. By contrast, the stars start to accumulate points very quickly, especially if you chain them without missing a single one. Unfortunately, there are a few parts where the star could be high or low, and it's basically a matter of luck whether you hit it and get the multiplier up, or miss it and lose out on a pile of points.
Otherwise, this is a fantastic game game in both concept and execution, and a rarity.
For those who wonder, the song in the game is "Always" by the band "Erasure".
-SirNiko
"Have I got a treat for you, faceless yet beloved reader."
I am so glad that you can get past my horrible and debilitating condition which leaves me with no face. Other people laugh and point and say things like "Where's your face?" and "That guy does not have a face." but not you, Dora. Not you.
I can't stop playing. If I stop playing the music will stop. DON'T STOP THE MUSIC!
this shouldnt be rated g its on the adult swim website, there is bad stuff on that site
I have to call foul on this game.
This game embodies the very worst of shameless, mindless, talentless cloning:
Canabalt has brilliantly simple one-button gameplay; the boiled down, perfected essence of a platformer. Robot Unicorn Attack has pointless complications: Two! Buttons! Double Jump! I've missed the point!
Canabalt appears simple but under the hood there is hidden strategy. RUA appears more complicated, but the gameplay is as shallow as a 14-yr-old Valley girl.
Canabalt's graphics look low-tech but it rewards repeat plays with tons of interesting touches. You've pretty much seen all of RUA once you've looked at the screenshot posted above.
Canabalt has fine-tuned, well-balanced gameplay that is hard as nuts but always fair. RUA requires blind jumps.
Canabalt has style to burn and hints of a deeper, larger narrative behind it all. RUA has rainbows.
Canabalt rewards repeated plays. RUA punishes repeated plays with its monotony and shallowness.
So, basically, you have Canabalt, a game that clearly had a lot of thought, skill, and playtesting put into it.
And then you have Robot Unicorn Attack.
Like Canabalt.
Except in every possible way it's so much worse.
Boo on JIG for featuring this shameless waste of space.
Oh god this is addictive.
Sorry you didn't find anything to enjoy about it, Bob, but you know what they say about pleasing all of the people all of the time.
I love Canabalt. Gets a lot of play on my iPhone. And I agree that RUA isn't as successful in its execution. But I don't think it's the dredge you seem to, and I enjoyed it. Canabalt has a very serious vibe. This has a free-wheeling ridiculousness about it that instantly endeared it to me.
Hopefully you find something else on the site that YOU enjoy. :)
Not to start a thing here, but I completely disagree with Bob Montgomery above.
I'm glad that JIG featured this variation on the Canabalt theme.
I love Canabalt, but the problem with it is that it is too one-dimensional. After I play through a few times, I get tired of the fact that there is so little to the game. I always come back and play some more, but after being unable to jump through glass below the building I'm on 10 times in a row, I start to realize how simplistic it is.
The added element of being able to double-jump can make RUA more fun in a casual sense. There's a bit of a safety net when you mis-jump.
Both games have their place, and both can be enjoyed for different reasons.
Of course, if you hate Unicorns, or are afraid of the color pink or rainbows, then RUA might not be for you.
I apparently never got to know Canabalt deeply enough, because it certainly felt like I was jumping blind a lot.
In RUA, on the other hand, the combination of double-jump and dash makes it possible to recover from wrong guesses almost all of the time. My scores shot up once I stopped using double-jump by default; most of the leaps can be made with one nice long jump, and if you save your second one, you can save yourself from landing on a star by dashing in midair above the star and using your second jump to clear the gap after the star.
If you see what I mean.
@ Grasa Total: You also get another jump after you dash, allowing you to stay in the air for VERY long periods of time (just watch out for ceilings!)
I really hate being told to wait while my game is loading (and hey, look, there's an ad) only to be taken to a loading screen once the ad's over. Making people sit through an ad is perfectly fine; lying to them about what's going on is unacceptable.
You know, it's kinda funny...people are actually looking for the full song "Always" on YouTube because of this game. Half the newest comments on the YouTube sites with this song are about RUA.
I love that the motivational lines you get before each game seem to vary from 'chase the rainbow' to 'you will die a fiery death'. :)
It's pretty easy once you realize you can stay off the ground all the time by alternating Z and X (jump and dash)... lovely game, still.
Darn it, Will; you ruined all my fun. Once you find a cheat, you can't stay away from it.
This game combines everything I never realized I wanted in a game. Especially Erasure?!
I think I played this game too many times. Last night I had a dream where I was playing an advanced version of this game. Only...it was in full 3D so I also had to navigate tight turns and gaps, and instead of stars I was blasting through various types of enemies, sometimes even multiple enemies at once!
Actually:
it looks like if you get lucky, you can get onto the ceiling. Jump up high by linking dashes and jumps. When you see the ceiling, you may be able to see a part that looks very much like the part you are running on. I actually had a opportunity to get up there, but epic failed it
I just bought an Erasure song thanks to this game. Also, I'll wear pantyhose and suspenders to class tomorrow. But that's my personal choice.
god i love the game. and i could listen to that song forever xD i want the game for my phone.
If you guys think you're taking "leaps of faith" in this game too often, you fail to realize the point of the fairy things.
Something to ponder there.
One of the purposes of the fairies is to guide you. You don't make blind leaps if there aren't fairies.
I'm utterly in love with this game. The whimsical style and music are wonderful, and the game is simply fun. I tried Canabalt and didn't like it nearly as much as RUA.
Infinite dash-jumping has been fixed. Perfectly fixed, I might add, because it doesn't prevent you from using dash-jumps in a legitimate way.
@Gabe:
I bought the song as well.
(spoiler tags for shame)
I heart this game!!! I've always wanted to become a magical robot unicorn, and attack stars without mercy. Don't judge me!
@ Keep.One.Step.Ahead: lol!
Man, I HATED Canabalt! I couldn't get through a single stinking level and the pace was so fast I had no idea where I was going ever. It was basically like a side-scrolling shooter without the ability to shoot. You just had to guess and get lucky as to whether or not there would be a wall in your way.
THIS I liked. So I say it's perfectly fine that they post more than ONE single game in a given category. Can you imagine how small and sad this site would be if they only had ONE platformer, ONE hidden object game, ONE real-time strategy game, ect?
They feature more than just the be-all-end-all-of-the-genre games.
Plus the review was super awesome.
I liked this game way more than Canabalt. maybe it was the robot dolphin...or the fact that your pretty unicorn blows up if you run into a wall...or maybe the song...yup, definitely the song. I can't stop playing this game, thanks for featuring it JIG!
Game is made of win! Love love love it!
Every review of this game says approximately the same thing "occasionally, there are dolphins as well." They do appear at set intervals. The dolphins appear every time you hit 5000 points on your current "wish" - so at 5000, 10000, 15000, 20000, etc you'll get dolphins. Not that this really matters, just thought I'd point it out.
OMG! That song is deliciously amazing and really addictive! I love Erasure :)
Why is this game so addicting? It's so simple, yet it just draws you in, draws you back... good god, it's like an acid trip, isn't it? It's like drugs without the drugs. Oh my god. This game is like drugs. It's the most addictive drug out there. I JUST CAN'T STOP. AAAAA!!!
But seriously, I'm not sure why, but this is quite possibly one of the best games I've ever played by virtue of its sheer addictive-ness. I love it. I absolutely love it.
BTW, if you're wondering, the dolphins appear every 5000 points, and there's one for each 5000 points you've gotten so far. So at 5000 points, one appears, at 10000 points, two appear, etc. God this is so addictive.
Heh...I think Nexon was playing this game recently. They're currently doing a rainbow based event right now in Maple Story...and at the same time, they're giving away a unicorn mount. Naturally, the people at the Sleepywood forum (Maple Story's message board) referenced this game...
This and Zen Loops have to be two of the most relaxing games I've played on here (I'm not even kidding!)
You have no idea how excited I was when I saw a unicorn in the Top Rated list.
Woot!
I wonder if anyone knows that if you hold down the z button to jump, the unicorn jumps far FAR higher and far longer than just tapping z. It's useful for blind jumping, just make sure you don't jump into a wall...If you long jump, but still miss the ledge, just double jump to get on. So yeah,holding z and long jumping is your friend! :D
You sung along too.
ALWAYS I WANT TO BE WITH YOU, AND MAKE BELIEVE WITH YOU, AND LIVE IN HARMONY HARMONY, OH LOVE!!!!!!!
I think this is *better* executed than Canabalt. Canabalt was often a complete random-fest where something just dropped down from the sky in front of you when you just landed from a jump. In RUA, the level design is less random (apart from the stars, which can sometimes appear on the floor where you're not) and I think the dash really heightens the gameplay, since it's not just a method to smash through stars, but can also help you when you jumped too early. Better controls, better gameplay... I do of course miss the birds and giant robots in the background of Canabalt, but I do believe that the lovely music from Erasure makes up for that.
Five stars.
And live in Harmony Harmony Ah Love!
Thanks. Now that song will never ever ever ever leave my BRAIINNN!!
(starts sobbing)
How do I stop the music? I'm trying to play this game without the music
@ musiclover:
you turn the volume on your computer down as far as it will go. Though why anyone would want to play it in silence is beyond me.
You turned it down???? I turned it UP as far as it would go!!!!
THE SONG....I-IT W-W-WAS SO INSPIRATIONAL!! *breaks down in sobs*
The first time i played this games (a long while back) I was like this is so stupid, but then I decided to play it again, and again and again, the song is SOOO bad, the lyrics are SOOO BAD, but I found myself humming it the next day, then breaking into song, then I knew, THEN I KNEW THAT THIS HAD TO BE SHARED!!! THE SONG IS SO ADDICTING!! YOU HAVE NO IDEA *twitch twitch* YOU NEED TO BELIEVE IN YOU AND NAKE BELIEVE IN YOU, AND LIVE IN HARMONY HARMONY OOOH LOOO!!
* Don't worry I'm seeing a therapist
lol jk jk - but no the song is incredibly addicting.
OH GOD! It looks like Lisa Frank threw up all over my iTouch! LOL never thought pink and bubblie could be so addictive!
Aww.... After about 30,000 points the dolphins stop coming. :( I liked the dolphins. (Then again at that point the game's so fast they'd probably lag the thing like hell and distract you.)
Anybody know of a version of the game that still has the infinite jump glitch? I want to get to the ceiling :D
I like Robot Unicorn Attack it is very amusing... :)
very fun game(: and i dont see the walkthrough but i only see the review :/
Still one of my favorite games. And still my very favorite review!
i have the same problem i cannot seem to tap z to jump in the game but it works when it says tap z to make a wish
I saw the review for the Heavy Metal version of this game on the front page today, and it mentioned a previous version with Erasure. And I thought, "Erasure? As in my favorite group of all time?" So I had to hop back in time to check it out. It was indeed Erasure, and a song that brings back some very good memories for me (I was studying abroad in London when the album came out). Not only do I have the album on which this song appears, but I also have every (official) remix of the song.
I say all that to say: all things being equal, I'd rather just listen to this song (or one of the five mixes I have) on my iPod. I guess one-button jumpers aren't really my cup of tea.
I have a lot of trouble getting games from adult swim to work (I have to allow so many scripts through my script blocker to get the game to load that it makes me really wary to play anything on their site). For anyone else like me, there is a version of this game that is playable here on JIG:
https://jayisgames.com/games/robot-unicorn-attack/
Just need to stick up for things that are whimsy and imagination - filled: there is definately a place in life (and in games!) for unbridled (har - de - har) aesthetics!!! Life is so serious, hard, and sometimes kind of visually boring (winter in Minnesota, anyone? *Okay, Okay, don't kill me 'Sotaites, I lived there once, too*), that letting the things that you "just enjoy" and "like" for no "apparent reason," (even through it is usually because of past association or personal sensory resonance) exist in your world, is essential to not dying a withered - up, toothless, soul-less OLD FOOL. I think if more people played this game, and JUST GOT OVER THE FACT that someone, somewhere, isn't going to like what they like, or understand why, and even laugh at them for participating in it, THE WORLD WOULD BE A BETTER PLACE, and we'd have less Nasty Curmudgeons. Can I hear a "hear hear?" (Is that how you spell it? :) :) :) )
there is a top level on this game does anyone know how to get there?
I like how you blow up!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
my z key doesnt work so i cant jump :'( i just plummet and die and i really want to play
[Make sure you click on the game window to make it active, first. Otherwise, what OS, browser and Flash Player versions are you using? I can try to reproduce the issue using the same configuration. -Jay]
this review is the worst i have ever heard for it.
you dare compare this game with any others? This game is everyones fantasies at night. You fail to catch the magic of this game. The catchy and inspirational music, the theme, the game itself, everything adds a tad bit of magic to this game.
This game is a gateway to let out our inner selves, when we sit at work, bored, doing nothing but typing mindless documents into your blank cube of light, you are boring. you are another face in the crowd. This game makes you stand out. it lets you release that kid inside you. it really shows you that you are unique. you are someone. It lets us embrace that wierd side of us, which we all have. We can be wierd, and we can do it through this. Giving this game such a mediocre review is something i will not stand for. Now, before you say anything about me not knowing anything about this game, i have stayed up various nights non-stop playing this game and blasting this music on a continous loop until i can hear nothing but my childhood sloshing around in my head.
@Jake
That won't fit on a bump.
[as]
What is your high score?
Just a note, at least one of the links on this page leads to the 'evolution' version
[Thanks, fixed. -Mod.]
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