Developed by Spanish studio Mango Protocol, Colossus Down is the latest in the "Psychotic Adventures" series of games, picking up where the shared story of its previous hits MechaNika and Agatha Knife left off. Colossus Down gives players the chance to wreck the halls this holiday season as a little girl and her 10-foot-tall battle mech on both PCs (via Steam) and Xbox consoles, and does an admirable job with its premise.
Players are cast into the role of Nika, a seven-year-old tech genius who invents a giant robot named MechaNika. Together, they will roam the world (alongside Nika's friend Agatha and a butcher demigod named the Great Bleeding Pig in the optional local co-op mode), using MechaNika's awesome power to destroy anything that's "uncool" so Nika can rebuild it all in her image. The game's sense of humor is dark and sometimes surreal, with plenty of clever nods to popular shows, games, and even a public figure or two. There's a bizarre twist at the end that may require knowledge of the previous Psychotic Adventures to completely make sense, but it's surprisingly gripping in a morbid way.
Colossus Down plays like a typical side-scrolling beat-'em-up, with players swinging MechaNika's blade arm, firing its shoulder-mounted exploding doll cannon, and unleashing an electrical burst to fry enemies as well as blocking and dodging enemy attacks. Additionally, players can unlock special moves, ranging from massive electric blasts to raining explosive doll heads, that can be great for clearing out large waves of enemies - but using them requires players to take damage. Luckily, Nika can recover her health by injecting a collectible coolant found littering the landscape alongside the bits of scrap she uses to power her special moves.
Naturally, the "uncool" forces of the world will fight back, with foes including police, military forces, and even robot sentries and mythical creatures. There are also a few puzzles that will have to be solved along the way, ranging from lining up lines on two columns to switching numbers on a video wall. At one point, Nika will even install a jetpack to fly up to the top of a tower, leading to a top-down rail shooter sequence where MechaNika has to dodge and blast enemies and debris as it makes its way to the top.
Throughout Nika's journey, she'll take damage in the form of heat, which is represented by a red damage meter on the upper left-hand corner. Should this meter fill completely, MechaNika will explode, but luckily it will regenerate instantly afterward with no real penalty provided players agree to a choice to reduce the number of special attacks they unlock to three. In fact, there are several narrative choices to be made throughout the game, most of which involve Nika deciding whether or not to spare an enemy in return for some kind of reward. These all impact the game's ending, which encourages multiple playthroughs.
Colossus Downs's art style is reminiscent of Adventure Time and Scribblenaughts, featuring colorful 2D graphics, cute character models, and fluidly animated cutscenes. Nika's travels take her to a wide range of locations, from schoolyards, military bases, neon-lit cyberpunk cities, a Candyland-style dreamscape, and even the inside of a video game. Dialogue is done via text, with hand-drawn letters and occasional spelling errors to emphasize the game's child-like perspective. All of this successfully contributes to the game's aesthetic, which is ultimately one of its biggest selling points but will also undoubtedly turn off some players who think it's too cartoony.
While Colossus Down is a solid beat-'em-up for the most part, it isn't without its flaws. Unlocking new attacks can take a long time due to the large amount of scrap one needs to collect to fill the upgrade bar, and some of the puzzles and boss battles can be confusing at first due to a lack of clear instruction on what to do. It's also got a fairly middling ceiling, since it lacks some of the depth that would contribute to making it a more engaging experience overall.
Still, Colossus Down is a fun, quirky, and dark game for players who wish for nothing more than to raze the world in the name of a cute mecha and the genius who built it. That's admittedly a pretty niche audience, but those with an affection for well-made sidescrollers or morbid cartoons will also find a lot to like in Colossus Down.
Colossus Down is available now on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch in January. Screen Rant was provided a Steam download code for the purpose of this review.