This is a long one!
Though completely irrelivant to the overall game. "Robotron" does have a back story that takes place in the near future. You play as a super humna character that must fight off forces of robots that have taken over. During your quest to take destroy these evil robots, you must also save fellow humans from being destroyed from the horde.
The gameplay in "Robotron" is the exact same as it has always been. You controll "Robotron" with either the left analog stick or the directional pad on the 360 controller, while useing the face buttons or the right analog stick to shoot by doing so in the direction you wont on the screen. As you move around the screen shooting all the robots and saving humans to increase your score. By defeating all of the robots you continue to the next wave in the sea of endless waves in the game. The core gameplay in "Robotron" is perfect, just as it has always been. The 360 controller may not be as good as the joysticks on an arcade machine. However, after you get used to them, they feel really good.
Its also worth pointing out that the control scheme of using the directional pad in conjuntion with the face buttons or analog stick is a really more effective way of playing the game. Do to the fact that controlls feel more responsive. However, having the choice of which you wont to control the game is definitely a great feature to help people find there personal control preference.
The other thing that makes the game great is the multiplayer support over Xbox Live. However, that feature is kind of a mixed blessing. While you cant have two people playing the game controlling two different characters. One player controlls "Robotron", while the other controlls the shooting. Its kind of weird, but haveing multiplayer in the game is still definitely a great feature that makes the game much like the arcade days of playing the game.
The game also has a bevy of unlockable achievements as being a Xbox 360 game. And while some of the achievements are almost impossible to achieve. The achievements really add a lot of replay value to a game that is already great.
The presentation of "Robotron" is mostly the same. There is a different background to the game, as well as a few small tweaks when you set the different backgrounds. However, its mainly the same game as "Robotron" has always been. As well as the sound which is the exact same as when the game released in 1982.
Overall, "Robotron" is a great upgrade of a classic game. While the core gameplay hasnt changed since its release in 1982. The added multiplayer support, unlockable achievements, and the fact that the game is only 5$ to download. All adds up to a great value. Making "Robotron" a great choice for your next Xbox Marketplace Download. In the end, it really comes down to this. If you are in the market for something cheap and fun. Then download this classic game as soon as humanly possible.