Today's giveaway runs for 7 days. You'll get 15 entries each day for sharing the Gamegiveaway page on your Facebook page and 20 entries for putting it up on Twitter.

Please only post comments about today's game giveaway; other comments either inappropriate, or comments with only one or a few words; for example good, thank you, TY, bad, rubbish, this game is ~%!£*? etc , or if the comment has nothing to do with today's game they may be deleted at the moderator or administrators discretion; however, a little light banter among community members and with the moderator to keep this a friendly place to visit is acceptable and welcomed. All comments not specifically about today's game giveaway will be judged by the moderator and if deemed inappropriate, will be deleted and usually with no explanation. Please see the moderation policy HERE for details about posting comments. If you are having problems installing the game check the FAQ's thread HERE and read through the communities comments because sometimes fixes have already been posted; and if for any reason you want to contact the giveaway team, for example, you have a game to offer the community, or are unable to download the latest game or other issues that the FAQ's thread or these comments don't cover or solve you can do so HERE

MadRobot X

In Brief

MadRobot X is an old school shoot 'em up game created by Netox . You control a robot trying to escape from the laboratory of a mad scientist, and to accomplish this, you'll need the help of GoboGobo, another robot who also wants to escape.

Suggestions:

If you receive a key for MadRobot X please give some feedback about your opinion of the game, for example, what you liked or disliked about it, or how it could be improved from your point of view . If you don't like this genre at all, please explain why. What, improvements, if any, would change your opinion? There are thousands of subscribers to the game giveaway of the day every weekend which makes this an ideal forum for giving developers ideas as to what their consumers (i.e you) would like to see in a game. For example, you could suggest extra content such as better or more original mini games, or a level editor that you would like to see that would make it more appealing to you. Maybe you think the graphics are a little dated and are in need of re skinning, or maybe you've just had enough of the genre and want to see something different or something with more originality?

If you miss the offer, you can get the game 24/7 via Steam HERE. It usually costs £1.99/$2.99.

Introduction:

“MadRobot X is a polished oldschool inspired shooter where players must help just the head of a giant killer robot escape from the mad scientist's lab where it is being created by blasting away at an armada of automated security using a giant overpowered laser that has been smartly woven into the overall game design”

Reference accessed HERE Aug 4th 2017.

Installation:

Assuming you receive a Steam key for Madrobot X, once you've found it (should be sent to the email you used to enter the giveaway - it must be the email you first used to sign into the game giveaway site. If you’ve used a throwaway email there may be problems getting a key, because the key may be sent to that email. If you have any problems use the contact form. Hopefully the giveaway team will repost the information they posted several weeks qgo explaining the email situation. ) you have to activate the game via your Steam client. Once activated it will be permanently tied to your Steam profile and you'll be able to install the game at any time, anywhere on any computer, so long as you can validate who you are (usually via emails etc.). If you don't have a Steam account you will first have to download and install the Steam client HERE

Then create a Steam profile/account. Once that has been completed you can input the Steam code that you've received (after completing the form filling) via the game button along the top of the Steam client, (located between friends and Help). From the drop down menu select 'Activate a product on Steam'. This opens a product activation window. Just follow the prompts to complete activation. Once the Steam code has been accepted, the game will be permanently associated with your Steam account and can be installed any time you wish.

If you have a problem installing or activating or getting Madrobot X to work, please visit the problems section over in the Game Discussion forums, which I've now incorporated into the FAQ's thread, and which you can find HERE

The Game:

Features:

⦁ Pixel art style
⦁ Progressive challenge
⦁ Power ups
⦁ Special skills
⦁ 12 Bosses
⦁ Bullets, bullets, bullets!
⦁ Nightmare Mode
⦁ Gameservices Scoreboard
⦁ Gamepad support with 2 modes:
i. Normal: LStick moves the robot, RStick shoots and maneuvers the beam
ii. Classic: LStick moves the robot and maneuvers the beam, buttons shoot
⦁ Gameplay adjustments (hitbox, touchscreen, hp recovery, etc...)
⦁ The ability to mute, not only the music, but sound effects as well
⦁ And much more (like bullets!)

I've posted 2 reviews of todays game, the first one was originally written before the game was updated, but later edited to include the new upgrades.

Review 1:

MadRobot X has you in the role of a robot who has been captured by an evil scientist. You’re a robot head that’s been separated from it’s body. You need to shoot your way out. guided by another robot head. All you have is your head gun that never runs out of ammo and mysterious power ups scattered around the levels, because reasons. When things get too hard you can call upon your body to pull out a level clearing attack.

Two levels into MadRobot I bought in and unlocked the premium purchase. I fell in love with the game too fast. I know. I am a bad reviewer… But it was really, good! The music is retro catchy goodness that you will find yourself humming and remembering hours after playing. The graphics were simple but good. Although I would appreciate it if the explosion effects were a bit more differentiated from the bullets. Maybe give the projectiles a purple or pink tint to make them even easier to see. Any who I got to level three and took a break. When I got back I found I started off with virtually no health at all and I just couldn’t beat the level because it was so hard/cheap… Did I make a mistake?

About two dozen frustrating tries later and I found that I was stuck.. The level felt impossible and I knew it wasn’t me. A few days later and plenty of tries to boot I was right about to start writing a bad review of the game. First I was going to put it on iTunes. Well it just so happened that there was an update for MadRobot X. New modes added, fixes as well, and best of all things were balanced. Boom! All of a sudden I was able to start the level with full health. The world was still punishing, very punishing, but not as cheap. Hours later I beat the game. I loved it. I absolutely loved it. Was it perfect? No. Did MadRobot X deserve the its price, that is the premium upgrade price? Yes! definitely.

There are hundreds of shmups available, some as cheap as Madrobot X, though most are insanely over priced and seem more luck based that fun, others are lazy ports that scream, no damns were given in the creation of the game. MadRobot X manages to balance progressive difficulty and fun perfectly after the last update. £1.99 is a steal for the fun I’ve had. I replayed the base game and have been toying around with the challenge boss rush mode. I’ve even dabbled in the nightmare mode. Definitely a good purchase by me. Now you can get it free today via the gamegiveawayoftheday.

Edited reference accessed HERE. Originally posted by Bernardo Español on Apr 1, 2016. Edited and added to by Whiterabbit-uk Aug 4th 2017.

Review 2:

While the complexities of its mechanics never venture too far from what has been done by previous games of this genre, the authentic visuals and sound effects work well with the relatively simple gameplay. The game isn’t going to keep you enthralled for hours, but it’s a neat way to kill a few minutes.

Players control a robot (I’m unsure if it is the titular Madrobot, as many of the robots in this game seem rather angry) escaping from an evil scientist’s laboratory. It escapes as any robot would: by blasting its head off of its body, flying upwards through the endlessly deep lab, and shooting lasers at anything that gets in its way.

Because you play exclusively as the decapitated head of your main character, it’s easy to feel as if your capabilities are limited. Your robot is constrained to firing a single beam laser at enemies, and moving left and right, forwards and backward. It feels great, though - the sound effects when blasting enemies, and the wonderful pixelized explosions give every encounter that certain special feeling that good shoot ‘em ups have. The music is also fun, albeit a bit repetitive, and lends itself to the nostalgic feel of the game.

This plays into the game’s incredibly satisfying “super move.” When your ability bar is fully charged up (after killing a few enemies), your robot’s head summons its body from below as it unleashes an armageddon of lasers, essentially destroying every enemy in sight - including bosses. Though a bit overpowered - this attack can sometimes spoil boss fights - it’s incredibly satisfying. Besides, I wouldn’t say the boss fights are the meat of this game. It’s more about the levels themselves, which feature more obstacles and enemy variety.

As the game progresses, your robot-head can gather upgrades, eventually adding other little floating robots to its arsenal. These allies are often allocated to a specific location/angle, meaning they’ll only be able to shoot in that direction. The game’s difficulty never seems to ramp up, and gathering more of these upgrades honestly makes the game’s gameplay balance a little bit on the easy side. Thankfully, there are unlockable difficulty levels, such as a “nightmare” mode that enables character death after only one hit. This makes Madrobot X a bit more intense, for those looking for the increased challenge.

One issue I had was the control setup. On a gamepad, the game plays smoothly. One analog stick controls movement, the other allows you to sweep your laser back and forth, allowing for flexibility. However, playing with a mouse and keyboard may leave several players confused. While there are options to play the game with the mouse only, character movement is limited to only when the laser is being fired. You cannot move unless attacking, which consequently, impedes mobility. When switching over to the keyboard controls, the movement is a little better. However, the player is then unable to sweep the laser back and forth, and can only shoot in a forward-facing straight line. Madrobot X is playable in this format, but I found it odd that there wasn’t more clarity on how to play the game with a mouse and keyboard without downgrading the player’s experience.

The game also lacks in terms of variety. While levels seemed to be increasing in difficulty, I couldn’t tell if it was the game design or fatigue from a repetitive experience. Enemies don’t mix things up much, and after a few minutes of shooting lasers and dodging them, I began to wish the game had more diversity, at least visually. The background and textures are bland and never change throughout a playthrough, making it harder to differentiate between different stages in the game. The boss battles aren't challenging either, and with upgrades Madrobot X either feels like a cakewalk due to its limitations, or cheap due to bad controls on mouse and keyboard.

Edited reference accessed HERE. Originally posted by Alec Cudmore on Oct 08, 2016. Edited by Whiterabbit-uk Aug 4th 2017.

Other Reviews and Videos of Madrobot X:

You can see Steam community reviews of HERE, and if you want to see some game-play you can see some videos of game play HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE. You can see all 16 of thegame tutorial videos HERE.

Conclusion:

Madrobot X fails to mix up the genre in any meaningful way, but it doesn’t have to. It’s a cheap game that plays well and is worth checking out for anyone who is a fan of old arcade shoot ‘em ups. If you’ve got a few bucks/pounds/euro's and a few minutes to kill, you might as well go for it. Just don’t fire it up expecting anything more than your standard robot-shooting experience.

Thank you to the developer NetoX for giving away Steam keys for this excellent basic retro shmup and also to the game giveaway team, as always, for securing other ways to get free games, in this case a Steam key.

Useful Information not related to today's game giveaway:

The problems section that used to be posted here in the Game review is now included in the Game Discussion FAQ's thread; which you can find HERE.

I've updated the games section that used to be posted with the review. The thread is now called 'Weekly round up of game deals', formerly the games section of the weekly reviews. You can find the new thread (which I've posted in the sticky section of the game discussion forums to make it easier to find if you are perusing the game discussion forums) HERE.

The rest of the information that used to be posted here can be found in the forums HERE. Don't forget, if you have an account with DOT.emu, you need to download any games you have before June, when the site closes permanently. Finally, check out Delenns thread over in the forums HERE. There are games available for free, some of which are limited to the number of free keys available. The thread is worth checking regularily as Delenn has been posting links to various feeebies on a regular basis recently.