Ultratron is a single screen, twin-stick shooter, inspired - as the name suggests - by that ancient arcade classic Robotron. You play as the last remaining Humanoid Battle Droid, and for reasons unknown the entire human race has been wiped out. For reasons also unknown, you take it upon yourself to set out on a path of revenge against the swathes of evil robots, who I assume are responsible for said demise of the feeble fleshy ones.



It takes 40 stages of manic robot slaughtering to avenge the human race and every tenth stage is a boss encounter. Each stage comprises several waves of varying foes and each lasts about a minute or so. After the main 40 stages, the game loops and things get progressively more difficult in true retro arcade style. The main hook of the game is the upgrade and character progression system. Vanquished foes drop coins and you must spend these wisely to enhance your droid if you hope to progress once things get manic.  There is plenty of strategy involved in upgrading and you will have to experiment with varying upgrade paths to find a successful recipe. In this respect, the game plays very much like it's stable mate Titan Attacks. Will you upgrade your main weapon power first, or will you concentrate on purchasing and powering up your AI companions. Will you boost your speed, or bag yourself that interesting grenade ability. The hard bit is actually managing to have money left over to spend on upgrades without having to spend it all on replenishing your shields! You might find it hard to progress at first.  Eventually, it will all come together and it is very satisfying when you find success.



To aid your quest, you are sometimes presented with power-ups to collect in the arena and these can be very useful such as twin shots and bouncing bullets. Even mundane things like an extra shield are much appreciated.

Ultratron is a great visual and aural experience. There's a suitably futuristic pumping trance /techno soundtrack and loads of flashing and strobing effects going on. It looks really cool. Unfortunately, the visuals are also the main gripe of the game. It is sometimes very difficult to tell what is going on when things get hectic and I found it quite hard to distinguish enemy bullets from coins or arena effects and other shenanigans at times. Luckily, you can turn some effects off from the options menu and you probably should. It doesn't fully alleviate the problem though to be honest, but it didn't detract from my enjoyment of the game too much to be fair.  I would have like to have seen a bit more variety in the arenas though, it is sadly lacking on that front.



Ultratron is ultimately an excellent game. It's great for a quick blast and as such is superb on Vita. The game saves your state every ten levels which is great. If you die, you can pick up from a previous state with the same amount of wonga and upgrade progression and try again. You might even try a different upgrade strategy from that point if things weren't working out before. The game also features local co-op which is a nice addition.

The trophies are pretty easy and it's quite an easy "Max" overall and fairly quick. There is plenty of replay value though. I haven't played the Xbox One version but I am thinking of picking it up because there are actually some really good achievements which are well thought out and make you play the game to it's potential.

I thoroughly recommend Ultratron. I have to reduce the score slightly because of the difficulty in differentiating between objects at times, however you should still buy this game if you are a fan of the twin stick shooter.

I award Ultratron 8 Out of 10.