Our Final Battle: Awesomenauts

We GameSpot editors are a civil people. When disagreement sprouts, we do not turn to violence like prehistoric cavemen, or hug out our differences like prehistoric hippies. Instead, conflicts are resolved in the digital arena. Mario Kart, Street Fighter, Battlefield--these are our counselors. Today, the 2D massive online battle arena (MOBA) Awesomenauts fills that role as editors Maxwell and Giancarlo prepare for their final battle. The goal: to be the first team to destroy a key structure deep within the other's base. Only one will walk away from this fight, so place your bets!

0:00, Max Don't kid yourself, Giancarlo. You don't know a ranged AP carry from a jungler. I can trace my MOBA lineage back to developer Gas Powered Games' short-lived Demigod, and then to Riot Games' frontrunner League of Legends. With dozens of matches as LOL's Karthus under my belt, I'm specially built to get kills and frustrate others. How about this? I'll cut you some slack and pick Voltar, a support character who specializes in healing teammates. He's also a brain in a glass jar, which is great.

Team Blue, from left: Sheriff Lonestar, Clunk, and Voltar (Max).

0:30, Giancarlo I have played all of an hour of League of Legends and some of the original DOTA, so I know MOBA games aren't supposed to be side-scrollers, and yet here is Awesomenauts. Maybe it's because it looks like Mega Man, or maybe it's because I like awesome astronauts, but there's something about this game that makes it feel accessible from the get-go. I am going to play as Clunk, a high-health heavyweight who can take a lot of damage.

Team Red, from left: Froggy G, Clunk (Giancarlo), and Leon Chameleon.

2:00, Max While en route to the battlefield, our team stops at the shop. I pick Piggy Bank first, which gives Voltar a onetime boost of 125 funds for free. I then use those extra funds to unlock both my powers. By default, characters only have access to their basic attack and jump abilities at the start of a match. With all my powers active I can now heal allies as a basic attack, jump (and float in midair), deploy a healing drone, and create little attack drones that fly around and shoot things for me. I shall name them "Steve."

2:03, Giancarlo I immediately go for the weapon upgrades to Clunk's standard, slow-moving missile attack. This robot's life-stealing bite ability and high-damage self-destruct ability are great, but they won't help me bring down any turrets early on. Clunk can also fly for brief periods of time, which is helpful since he walks so slowly.

2:16, Max The minions haven't even spawned yet, and a team fight has already started at top lane. The range of my healing is pretty bad early on, so I get myself too deep in the fight and take a ton of damage. Naturally, Giancarlo picks up on this and starts lumbering after me, spewing rockets. Luckily, his big, stupid body hits a bounce pad and is rocketed into the air, giving me time to escape.

Giancarlo goes for some early damage against a Blue team turret, Max watches helplessly.

2:55, Giancarlo Ugh! I hit the bounce pad a second time while fighting Sherriff Lonestar and Max. I get the feeling this game is playing passive-aggressive favorites with the Blue team. Fine, since I'm out of the fight anyway I take this moment to teleport back to base and regenerate some health.

5:23, Max Where did you go, Giancarlo? Ha! That rhymes. My curiosity takes me down to the bottom lane of this two-lane battlefield where--to my surprise--there's a giant button on a platform. I jump on it, unable to help myself, and a giant sand worm rises up from the floor and devours my nearby minions! Whoops. Before I can devise a clever way to lure Giancarlo down here, I get the message that our top turret is under attack.

6:09, Giancarlo Max floats back into view just as I start pounding away on his top turret, and without any Blue allies around there's nothing he can do about it. But where the heck is everyone else?

8:01, Max Come on, Steves, you're supposed to shoot at the enemies! Thankfully, Giancarlo gets low on health and runs off before too long. He tries to pull another assault on our bottom turret but overstays his welcome and gets low on health again. I fly up next to him, hoping my attack drones will gun him down, but they just sort of bounce around stupidly. Thankfully, our turret knows what it's doing and picks up the kill.

Somewhere inside that explosion, Max's Voltar is being turned to ash.

8:42, Giancarlo After returning home to recover some lost health, I arrive too late to stop Blue's three-man push on our bottom turret. A West Side Story-esque rumble ensues, only with a lot more explosions and a lot less finger snapping. Ultimately, we lose the turret, but I totally get the girl.