Robotron: 2084 Is Just Like Smash TV, Once You Play It You Can't Stop!!!!!!!
THE GOOD : Fun And Tough, Achivements Are Fun To Earn,MIKEY!!!!!!!,Good Sound.
THE BAD : The Graphics Are A Bit On The Dull Side!!!! There Could Have Been At Leats 1 More Weapon For You. Wave 5!!!!!!
Robotron: 2084 Costs 400 Microsoft Points, And Quite Frankley It Is Worth Every Little Piece Of The Cashareno.
I guess the first level is easy enough; there are fifteen grunts that close in on you, and you have two humans to pick up. They're easy enough, and you can probably avoid the electrodes(flashing shapes which kill you or the grunts) easily enough. But then Hulks appear, who are only bumped slightly by a shot and who kill all humans in their path, and the first evidence of randomization may come in; a Hulk may walk toward a human and wipe it out in a second before you react. There are also Spheroids, which loop around the screen before settling on the side and producing the curveball missile firing Quarks. Later on you encounter walking Brains who shoot smart missiles that tend in your direction and also transform humans into missiles. And last and least accommodating are the Enforcers, gyrating boxes which leave behind Tanks, whose missiles are straight but bounce off walls. With the ensuing complications it is often tough to tell(after the pressure of the game, of course) when the computer is stacking the deck unfairly in its favor and when it forces you to use a strategy that you hadn't considered before. However, each monster has one clear annoyance that probably helped player turnover in the old arcades. Gameplay : Robotron is the very essence of the instant-gratification ''twitch'' videogame. It ranks among the fastest and most intense shoot-em-ups ever made, even today. This game is among my personal favorites, and thanks to arcade emulators and the brilliant Williams Arcade Greatest Hits compilation, it can be enjoyed without the need for quarters. This was the second game for Williams by Eugene Jarvis. His first was, of course, Defender, the legendary outer space shooter that continues to intimidate players two decades later. Jarvis would easily be remembered for that classic, even if he faded into obscurity. Thankfully, he did no such thing. The game features a humanoid hero who moves around a full-screen playfield, shooting different varieties of robots that flail at all directions. Here the greatness of the controllers becomes apparent. It's often necessary to run one direction while shooting in another. This is not one of those shooters where you have an overwhelming advantage. If anything, it is you who are overwhelmed. The key is to survive long enough to actually destroy all the robots. In addition, players must rescue human family members, who themselves are targets for execution. The best levels involve alien brains, who seek out the humans and turn them into suicidal zombies. Every businessman and housewife you don't save just becomes another target gunning for you. However, each monster has one clear annoyance that probably helped player turnover in the old arcades. Grunts, red humanoids with visor eyes, seem pretty innocuous. They seem to plod along, but actually they make small jumps. If you expect to see them move smoothly, too bad! They can either jump too fast(run into you as you try to cut by) or too slowly(they don't get shot soon enough as you make a break to the side.) After a while they speed up to where they can keep pace with you. An amusing irony is that the grunts are unable to sense when they are about to trip over electrodes, but humans can. So much for robots always being superior to people! Hulks, green boxes with thin red limbs, look funny marching around, and the skulls they leave in people's wakes are cute, but you won't laugh once you realize that enemy bullets go through them while yours don't. It's even less funny that enemies can walk through hulks as well. I spent too much time assuming the common-sense stand on these points, to my chagrin, but the penny dropped once I saw quarks lobbing missiles at me from the corner with no hope of retaliation--as hulks walked toward them from the two open directions. Spheroids dip and curve like spitballs. They don't much take momentum into account as they bang around and also pulse from a small dot to a big circle. So occasionally when you fire at them, even at close range and intensely, you'll come up empty. You may even risk them boomeranging into you. Quarks often seem to defend themselves by shooting a missile just before you hit them. They can also leave a missile just after you hit them(as rude as someone laying flatulence in the john next to you and then walking away,) which stays on a side a second before vanishing, but their more general sin is the annoying curving X they fire that doesn't decrease in speed until it hits the side of the board and disappears but also can veer off in different subtle diagonal directions, none of which you can hit. This can leave a player disillusioned with the controls he has; eight directions don't seem so much any more. Brains fire annoying smart missiles which must be hit head-on and often do not approach you in the same diagonal manner in which you shoot. That means you have to run from a diagonal missile. Brains also occasionally disappear when they catch a person and turn them into Progs which act as wide, quick missiles(depersonalizing or what, dude?) But they are so slow that you can leave one while you pick off any people running around. for huge points. Enforcers are like Quarks, only square and much more populous on their special level. They only move diagonally but produce nastier Tank monsters much quicker. Also unlike quarks the robots they leave behind stay when you continue a level, meaning that losing a life gives you almost no break. Tanks fire increasingly rapid shots that bounce off walls and while any one may not seem to be gunning for you, there will be so many thick shots that it seems that way. At least an intense session of these guys proves there is no slowdown--which would probably ruin the game more than the cheats anyway. Missiles also zap invisibly through Hulks, which shield the tanks that start firing on re-start anyway. Graphics : Robotron's got subtle visual and sound appeal; the pixelation fits in well with the depersonalized robots(a box of bolts, not a person.) Although sometimes the screen gets cluttered with exploding robots(grunts combust vertically off the edge of the screen) and some robots disappear for a bit, the pulsing borders and robot body parts make the largely RGB color scheme, potentially dull, seem like part of the fireworks. The lethal electrodes, which appear as triangles, stars, spirals or even the number '2084,' serve to distinguish levels
Sound : The between-level riff with the game show style screen switch, along with the serrated scale music, seems to make the sort of music techno wishes it could be. I've never particularly liked techno music or wanted to be a DJ but with the sounds from electrodes sputtering, shots, robots exploding, humans touching you(chord) or a hulk(scream,) I can see why it thrills some people. In fact one of the best double-used sounds ever occurs in this game. If you finish a level or die at the same instant you achieve an extra man, the bonus guy tune echoes for several seconds, and its meaning feels different depending on what it occurred with. ALL IN ALL Robotron offers a bunch of good and a bunch of bad. It is very addictive and fun.