Battle Ram (PC)
If not for it’s smooth line work and mouse-based controls, Battle Ram feels like it could pass for a 1980s arcade game. A somewhat inexplicable premise with a sheep fighting off angry robots, a limited play area, and one hit deaths all speak to an older style of designing games, although on release in 2020 Battle Ram was even more like the arcade games of old. A death would force a full game restart and there were very few levels in total to even see, but a few post-release updates bolstered the game and smoothed out its edges, providing the classic style of play with some modern conveniences.
Battle Ram does nothing to explain its idea in-game, but some of its story can be found on the Steam store page despite a rough translation and some now outdated info. The rather cute ram you play as is actually the result of military experimentation, his head butt now a surprisingly powerful destructive attack. To test the results of the medical engineering, the Battle Ram is pitted against a variety of robots and hazards to prove his might and skill. There’s no real ending present when you do manage to fight your way through every level and the game has expanded a good amount from the set of eight stages initially promised, but since the focus does seem to be on the arcade approach to quick but challenging levels, the quick and immediate approach without any sense of finality to the end doesn’t seem too out of place.
Battle Ram is controlled completely with the player’s mouse. Rather than following your mouse movements directly though, the ram will trail behind a little before catching up. If you click before the sheep reaches his destination though, he’ll charge forward, this being your means to fight the robots that enter the arena. Rapidly hitting a robot will cause the bounce back from doing so to increase though and getting too carried away trying to wear one down can lead to you bouncing accidentally in danger, but one thing the player will learn rather quickly is that Battle Ram is not about constant mindless smashing into your foe but instead a careful and cautious approach to your high powered headbutts.
The battlefield in Battle Ram is a large circle with a dotted line noting its boundaries. If at any time your ram exits these limits, he will be immediately killed. There is a touch of leniency when on the border itself, but if a robot is outside of the circle as it fires at you, you’ll need to wait and dodge until it comes into range. The bounce back from your charges become more dangerous because of this as does how you aim with your mouse, a robot who scuttles out of your attack’s path potentially leading to you charging right into the death zone. Once you become a bit familiar with these risks and the nature of your mouse’s control on the ram’s charge though you can begin to hone your approach to the action, knowing when and how to attack even as the central circle becomes crowded with more robots. In fact, the need to be careful in your attacks even as the battlefield grows more packed is what gives Battle Ram its main appeal, the player needing to be smart in choosing their moments to strike and learning the best moments to attack based on the situation. Weaving around becomes increasingly tight and nerve-wracking as you can only barely slip around enemy fire, and while it never really reaches absurd levels even if you take your time wiping out the opposition, you will still need to consider the rhythm of when certain robots fire and guide robots around the arena to ensure you’re never caught in a tight spot.
A few robot types are rolled out across a still admittedly limited set of levels, the game still packing in around an hour of content to go from start to end and helped by a save system that lets you start at the level you died in. Grey conical machines actually pose no direct challenge to the ram but can get in the path of your charges when other robots are later mixed together with them, and since each robot detonates on death, it becomes important to avoid the often abundant grey machines as they start to explode. Enemies can harm each other both with shots fired or their explosive ends, the grey machines always trying to stay fairly close to the ram and thus making for a small chain of blasts if they take too much damage. Other robots are bit more straightforward in the threat they pose, often being some mix of firing in a certain way from afar and moving in different manners to set them apart from each other. Greater durability also ensures tougher foes stick around longer, and after the game has introduced new robot types it starts to mix them together with previous ones fairly well. There aren’t too many varieties but the distribution keeps things fresh because you need to be strategic in the ways you avoid them, only the really sturdy gold robots near the end that turn invisible periodically feeling like they maybe strain the system with how long they take to wear down. However, during a normal stage, the increasingly cramped arena does provide some surprisingly tense fights as you need to constantly weave through attacks to pick your moment to strike and hopefully wear down the numerous enemy forces.
A few rounds of Battle Ram are not about fighting robots though, instead being a test of survival as you end up in the crossfire of rockets that fly in from the sides or pillars of light that drift across the arena. With the save system these stages are perhaps too simple, the threat of losing not too great and the threat posed mostly one of simple dodging hazards that aren’t too quick. When these dangers are mixed into robot fights they do pose more of a threat and again spice up the play with a new variable, but the survival stages are too simple for their own good since the game moved away from the old design style of your extreme vulnerability also leading to a full game restart. You can wipe your save file with ease from a sparse home menu if you want to do a new run through the game, but something like a survival mode that restores that danger would let these levels thrive while also allowing for the core game to still be exciting without hinging too much on memorizing what you’ll be facing to make it further. Other modes like a randomized mode could also give the game more life, but as is it still has enough internal variety in the push to see every level that it works as an entertaining first experience and perhaps something easy to whip out and play for a short bit. Its current price of $11.99 feels rather high for what it offers though, but on a good sale it does contain some simple fun that actually requires a bit of smart strategy to succeed in your robot smashing goal.
THE VERDICT: The danger of a one hit kill ending the level instantly is what gives Battle Ram its thrills, a save system helping it avoid frustration as you reach later levels that demand more cautious responsive play. The small set of robot foes encourages the player to evaluate the threat and pick their openings, the process simple since the variables are limited but the action still about more than clicking your mouse to smash your face into things wildly. The endurance levels do feel like they lack teeth and the some later robots seem more durable then they need to be, but other ideas like the dangerous detonation on death for robots and the friendly fire between them add some appreciated extra considerations to this solid little experience.
And so, I give Battle Ram for PC…
A GOOD rating. In the same way I feel I need to reiterate the price tag might be too high despite its quality, I also feel the comparison to 80s arcade games feels appropriate here as well. Battle Ram does outdo some of the games of that era while still imitating their approach on quick contained action. Keeping your ram in the circle while also dealing with the dangers that soon limit the available safe space forces the player to be smarter about when they charge and when they focus on survival, and while the rocket and light beam levels are a bit tame since the game added the smart progress-saving feature, a simple level introducing them isn’t so bad when they’ll be incorporated into later levels. The mixing and matching isn’t just about facing more enemies either as their ability to hurt each other gives you an extra tactic beyond smashing your head against them until they blow up. Battle Ram could do with more features and options without completely jeopardizing its balance between simplicity and careful play, but if it was knocked down to a more palatable price, it could serve as a quick amusement that makes good use of what elements it did elect to include.
That same simple core that allows Battle Ram’s action to be iterated upon without overcomplication is what allowed it to climb out of what sounds like a rough start. It sounds like the initial design had not only a training level but the two endurance stages with only the difficulty really reaching its highest in the final stage, but some expansion and small tweaks allowed Battle Ram to realize the potential of its design. A few more adjustments or options could give it a longer life and more appeal, but the battle between sheep and robot featured here still finds a successful balance despite its handful of variables.