Cybersled

"An underrated game that was ahead of its time"

Cybersled was one of the original games released for the Playstation, and was a port of the arcade game of the same name. It is a futuristic arena battle game that consists of two 'sleds' (they look like short robots with metal tips) battling it out using missiles and guns.

Gameplay: 8/10

The gameplay in Cybersled is rather simple, with easy controls (all directions + strafe) that make it easy to maneuver around the arenas. Each sled is different, and how they look reflects their skills (the huge sleds are slow, but powerful). A battle begins with players on opposite sides of the arena, and you use an assortment of missles and a machine gun to reduce your opponents health to zero, resulting in a winner. The controls work almost flawlessly, and clipping detection (getting stuck when you hit a wall) is superb for such an early game.

There are a total of twelve rounds, fighting a different sled each round. Usually when playing a round you have never tried before you get beaten easily, but each enemy has a different weakness. For instance, when you play the fat, green-colored sled (the sleds aren't named) the way to beat him is to wait until he fires, then circle around him while firing so he can't turn fast enough to hit you. The final round is a boss, who seems rather difficult (he has perfect stats!) but also has a weakness.

After you get tired of single player (which I doubt will happen soon), there is a multiplayer deathmatch mode. This, unfortunately, is not the best part of the game and is disappointing when compared to the incredible multiplayer available in the arcade version. Although this was the first game I can remember that used split screen for multiplayer, it is implemented poorly. The sled takes up too large a portion of the screen for you to understand what is going on, and is nearly unplayable. The other option for multiplayer is a link cable hook up with two playstations, but that also means you need two copies of the game, two TV's, two systems, etc. I have tried this once, and can say that it isn't much fun. For some reason the game lags, almost like you were playing online, and it really ruins the experience. I guess the link cable couldn't transmit data fast enough.

Graphics: 5/10

The graphics in Cybersled are not anything special, but for an early game it is not unimpressive. The entire game is rendered in 3D, from the sled models right down to the opening menu. Despite this, the framerate remains high with no noticeable drop.

The arenas are especially mediocre, consisting of an assortment of walls and seemingly random obstacles strewn out each of the five (four plus one secret) arenas. The only differences between each arena are the obstacle placement and the color scheme. Still, they get the job done.

Why do they call this game Cybersled? Because each 'sled' that is battling has no wheels, it just slides around the arena. I suspect that this was to keep the framerate high, but it doesn't really change how fun the game is. Wheels or legs wouldn't have made any difference on gameplay. Each sled model is a different shape and color, which also aren't spectacular, but get the job done anyway. The machine gun and missile fire are 3D, but they are a bland color that makes them easily noticeable.

Sound: 2/10

The techno track that pumps during every second of the gameplay wouldn't be so bad, except that it isn't very good techno and there is little variety. Luckily, there is an option to turn it off so it isn't a very big problem.

The sound effects are pretty lame, with some digitized explosions and this TERRIBLE announcer that yells a lot. The game is best played on 'mute' with a CD of your choice playing in the background. Really, the only redeemable qualities of the sound track is the techno, which is only good listening to the first time. It gets old after that.

Replay Value: 8/10

There are varying difficulties, secret characters, and secret arenas to keep you busy for a long time. Also, the game is very fun to play and will bring you back occasionally to beat it again.

Story: N/A

There is some tidbit in the manual about the story, but it is so lame I'm going to just grade this as N/A because it isn't actually mentioned at all in the game.

Overall: 7/10

If you can forget about so-so graphics and the awful sound, there is a rather deep and fun game waiting to be played.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/10/03