Iron Soldier

"Join the resistance- see the world.....blow up ships?"

Released in 1994, Iron Soldier is an American giant robot game (read: slow moving) that places you in the shoes of an "Iron Soldier" in the first person perspective. Its a little light in the story department. Basically you're just some no-name rebel with the "Resistance" fighting against the "Iron Fist Corporation". Its just a bunch of bull used as a pretext for the destruction.

Overall:

When I was in the military we had alot of "simulation machines" that were like videogames but suffered from a lack of fun. Iron Soldier is alot like those sims- in how it looks and feels. It kinda suffers from its own desire to feel authentic, but isn't sim'ish enough for the hardcores or game'ish for the casual player. Its not an overly long game- at just sixteen levels it doesn't take long to see and do it all, and the only replay stems from the difficulty, which has four levels- and The only thing gained from the higher difficulty is the "ending" which consists of one screen with text on it. Which is about par for the rest of the game- there are no "features" to this game per say- it has battery backup, and you gain weapons as you complete stages, however of note- the title screen, you can scroll it up to see the top of the building your iron soldier is standing in front of. Why is that?

There isn't much variety to the missions, usually it involves taking something- a building, or a set of tanks, out. For example, in level two I had to take out some ships, in level eight I blew up more ships, and again in level fifteen ....I sunk ships. This might not seem so bad if their were multiple objectives in the levels, however each mission has ONE objective as outlined by the mission briefing before the level. This briefing consists of one screen and a 2D picture that appears to be of a much more interesting game.(To be fair there is a rotating wire-frame image on it as well.....usually of the ship you are going to shoot).

The mission structure however is ambiguous and it is mostly left up to the player as to how he or she is going to complete the objective- as the entire city is destructable. The player decides how they would like to set up the weapons on their Iron Fist, you have 2 shoulder mounted choices, an arm mount, and two hip mounts to choose weapons for allowing for a little customization.

The game allows you to save at several points- missions once every four missions up to mission 12, and then every mission until the end of the game. I can only imagine that this is due to the dramatic increase in difficulty. When you are playing on "insane" you'll be glad for those saves.

Graphics:

Probably what the game has going for it. When I first saw this game in 1994 I couldn't believe my eyes. It hasn't aged gracefully but I still wasn't disappointed. It has an excellent sense of scale, I really am a tall robot! The animation is a little choppy, but it doesnt hinder the game any. The most notable problem is the lack of any sort of textures. Its looks like Turok 2 with the textures off cheat enabled- just brightly colored blocks. However it has a large variety of enemy units, as well as a pretty good draw-in distance. Once in a while a non combatants car will wander by which adds a little to the ambiance, and there is even a night mission, although its really too dark to see anything at all.....their are no lights in the city apparently, and no headlights on my robot either.

For a better idea- its very "star foxy" but with less polygon flicker and at a higher resolution.

Sound:

Not much in this area. The game has some forgettable techno tracks, and none of the weapons have any kick or bass to them. Not even when a building explodes do you get treated to a "boom". It really is a missed opportunity and keeps the player from really getting into the missions. Their never seems to be any jeopardy for the player, and it all seems rather leisurely.

Controls:

This game makes good use of the keypad, as all your Fists weapons are mapped according to their position on your mech. The A button acts as your throttle while B shoots. Its not overly complex and feels normal after just a few minutes. Its very sluggish but that just adds to the illusion of piloting one of these beasts.

The whole game only takes a few hours to beat and its about three bucks on Ebay. At that price its worth adding to your Jag collection.

6.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 02/19/08

Game Release: Iron Soldier (US, 1994)