Rocket Bot Royale

The game isn't as simple as its bare-bones tutorial suggests, and kids will need to be prepared to die quickly and keep trying to advance, which can be a little frustrating at first. Tanks defy gravity in Rocket Bot Royale, leaping up to higher areas when you shoot at the ground beneath you -- and clinging to 360-degree airborne structures as you drive around them. There's often a minute before matches begin, where kids can make their way around a board looking for other tanks to shoot or coins to collect. Kids can choose when to parachute to the ground from a helicopter at the start of a match by dragging their finger downward on the screen. That requires thought, because if your tank lands in the water, you're out of the game. Once they reach solid ground, they'll need to defend themselves against any other tanks and try to shoot those players, with an ultimate goal of being the last tank standing.

Dying happens often, and it can happen quickly. With multiple players shooting at each other, it isn't hard to get hit soon after landing. Kids will also need to avoid the constantly rising water level, and if they can't climb higher before it reaches them, they'll be out of the game. They can, at that point, continue to watch but can't participate. The opening scene kids hang out in, which essentially serves as a waiting room until the helicopter ride starts, gets old fairly quickly. Shortening or allowing kids to skip that portion would help keep the game's momentum going. Kids may also experience some lags and other technical issues -- shooting beneath you doesn't always work well on some surfaces, for instance, and if the connection drops, kids may find they've inadvertently exited the game. But aside from those elements, and the focus on weapons and violence, which some parents may feel is a concern, trying to navigate each round and outlast the other players in Rocket Bot Royale can be a somewhat addicting goal -- and also pretty fun.