Awesomenauts fits into the Action Real-Time Strategy (ARTS) genre, or as many gamers have come to know it, the DotA genre. This particular genre has become increasingly popular in recent years and began with a mod for PC game Warcraft III called Defense of the Ancients. The gameplay in this genre is relatively straightforward. Players need to destroy the opposing team’s base with the help of computer-controlled units that will periodically spawn. These units are very simple and will march towards the enemy’s base in a pre-defined path. They are also relatively easy to destroy but are essential in some way to the success of your team.

The traditional ARTS game employs a top-down camera. Uber Entertainment’s Monday Night Combat introduced third person shooters to the genre, but Awesomenauts really challenges the status quo by playing as a side-scrolling ARTS game. While the announcement of a side-scrolling ARTS game gave some people doubts as to whether it could work, the moment of truth has finally arrived. Has Ronimo Games successfully incorporated side-scrollers into the ARTS genre? Let’s take a look.

Action real-time strategy (ARTS) games are a dime a dozen these days. It’s quite easy—and valid—to say that all ARTS games are the same. Pick one of a gazillion heroes to play as. Escort your bots along lanes toward the enemy base. Push through the enemy bots and destroy their turrets. March into their base and destroy their core. If you’ve played one ARTS game, then you’ve pretty much played them all.

When you think of an ARTS game, what do you think of? I think of boring grind fests and sitting in one of the bot lanes for the entirety of the game. I think of an ongoing balancing nightmare by the developer in an attempt to add new content to appease the voracious appetite of the player base. I do not think of a game that is easy to pick up and play, nor a game that is fun to watch.

And then there’s Awesomenauts by Ronimo Games.