"TV comes to PC"

History

Robot wars the game is based upon the popular BBC TV programme of the same name, and brings the world of remote controlled robot battling to the computer games market. The series began with a small run, where robots had to complete challenges including negotiating an obstacle course, and a sumo competition, before moving into combat with each other. In later series, the obstacles were removed from the programme. This game is loosely based upon the third and fourth series of the programme, with the skills sections removed, and the whole event based around a series of knockout bouts. In 2003, the show moved to Five, where the same brand of robot bashing with colourful characters is alive and well. There is also an American version called Battlebots, and if you liked that, then Robot Wars should serve your robot needs.

Gameplay

The designers wisely realised that there was nowhere nearly enough mileage in the typical series format, so they devised some new kinds of competition, and a number of other arenas that serve to spice up the action. The basic game is based around taking a robotic creation up against others in a fight to the death, aiming to secure the top prize in each championship. As well as a virtual trophy, you also gain prize money, which can be used to upgrade, or even build a new robot. When you earn enough money, new arenas and championships are unlocked, and these expand the content of the game.

From the main menu, there are a number of options available to you. The first is the tournament play, described above. There are several arenas available to you, although to start with, only the London based studio is available. This is by far the best arena, as it is easily identifiable if you've seen the show before. The features of this arena include most of the ones to be found in real life. There is a large flipper on the floor that activates when a robot has been on it for a while, flame jets and spikes on the wall, and the infamous pit, which opens after around three minutes of play, and offers a chance to dump you opponent into oblivion. There are generally three ways to disable an opponent: damage them enough with your weapons that they break down and fail; push them down the pit or out of the arena, flip them with your flipper or by making them zoom straight over you, and finally, push them into the corner patrol zones, where a house robot waits. The house robots are super heavy, super fast, and super dangerous, and if you get pushed into them, it's pretty much the end of the fight. The other arenas all introduce new features to the gameplay, but that would be a spoiler, as finding out what's there is a fun feature of the game. What I can say is that the later levels are mostly good, not as good as the studio though. In fact, there are a couple of issues with at least two of the arenas, but I'll go into those on the graphics section.

As well as the tournaments where the simple objective is to beat the other robots, there are the new collateral damage and mad bomber modes. Collateral damage is where you have to damage as much of the arena as possible. In some places it will be steel pipes, others oil drums, but you have to make as many of them explode as possible before the time runs out. This can get very annoying, as there are times when you are sure that you were the best player, but are then eliminated. The mad bomber round can also prove quite annoying as you need a very manoeuvrable robot to get away from the others, as they try and hit you in a futuristic game of tag. If your robot building skills are not up to scratch, you'll find it very difficult to get anywhere with a mad bomber round.

This brings me to the robot workshop. This is a section where you can create your own robot in order to compete. To start with, you are given “my first bot” which is as rubbish as it sounds, but after a while you get enough money to upgrade the armour, and the drive, and then enough to make your own. You can choose from a basic selection of shapes, and then add armour, drive, power, locomotion (wheels or tracks), and then the weapons, paint job and extras. The choice of weapons in limited by your budget, and the really juicy stuff isn't available until you have won a number of fights. But there are all manner of cool stuff for you to apply, including cutting discs, flamethrowers, flywheels, flippers and axes. Unfortunately, a lot of these are unbalanced, meaning a robot with flame thrower is unlikely to win against one with a cutting disc, and the axes are usually very difficult to use effectively. In keeping with the theme of raising cash, you can buy several pre built robots. At first, these are lame, and you can make better yourself, but once you really start finishing some tournaments, you can buy classic robots from the series. In case you want to know if your favourite can be bought, the range includes: Chaos 2; Razor; Hypnodisc; Killerhurtz; Behemoth; Mortis; Diotior; Pussycat and Panic Attack 2. When you can afford these, the fun really starts, as there's nothing like going on a robot killing rampage with Chaos 2, the series champion, who can just ruin robots left right and centre.

As well as the tournament mode, there's also a free game mode, where you choose the type of battle, the arena, the opponent, and then your robot, and have free reign over what happens. From here, you can set up a battle with up to two human opponents, sharing the keyboard, and although it's a little cramped, it works quite well. You're likely to use this only a little though, as there's no prizes for winning, so it's just a diversion when the pain of being eliminated through a random set of events gets to you. It can be that you lose because of a stupid driving error or an unresponsive keyboard that results in falling into the pit. This can get really annoying, especially in some arenas more than others.

Graphics

Generally, the graphics are very good for this game. Each level has a number of features, such as flamethrowers, and the animation for these is usually fairly good. The robots are also nicely rendered, although their simplicity comes into effect when they are damaged. Each type of shell is damaged in a set pattern, so whole chunks fall off with little damage. Once you are used to it though, this seems perfectly normal. The house robots stand out particularly as well constructed. The audience in the arenas is made up of simple two frame animated characters, but they're not a key feature, so it's unlikely that this will impact upon your enjoyment. One level features a rooftop where the robots can fall through a skylight, and this is nicely rendered. There are however, a few issues with the design of the arenas. The camera is usually very flexible, but if it gets stuck in a certain location, then it results in confusion. Taking the rooftop level as an example, there is plenty of animation for the arena itself, but when the level ends and the camera focuses upon the loser that has fallen off. There is a predominantly black screen, with a few jutting images of walls. There are a couple of other levels where this becomes a real problem. On two, the camera at the start is locked in the wrong place, and shakes around like mad. On another, the camera tries to stay in the centre of the arena, and this then confuses it, as your robot becomes a tiny speck, hidden behind steam and fire. Many times I have lost a battle by driving into pits that I just couldn't see. This really ruins the final level that is supposed to be a reward for completing most of the game. Having said that, most levels are fine to play once they get started, and some are as well designed as the TV studio level.

Story

Seemingly unaware that it's just a TV show; the producers appear to have tried to write a story into the game. The handbook declares that the house robots are a mystery, maybe a government plot, etc. etc. where anyone knows that they were made by the technical guys behind the series. The idea of an international tournament is a good one, but to claim that robot fights take place on rooftops and other exotic locations is a bit odd. Still, there's no real need for a proper story here, and the appearance of the classic TV robots mean that it doesn't matter.

Sound

The sound effects for the battle are quite well sampled, but there are only a few of them, so it tends to get repetitive rather quickly. Sound effects for the menus are also quite good. There is a selection of tunes below each bout and across the menus, and these are quite well made. If you play it for a long time, the tunes do get really repetitive, but there is the option to turn it down. I personally began to use my own rock tunes to great effect on as with the sound effects turned right up, you can get a pretty good mix. But the crowning glory of the sound is the sampled commentary by Jonathon Pierce. Like pretty much all games with a commentary, you hear the same comment again and again, but they are well recorded and generally cue well with the action on screen. Some games have comments that don't match what happens, but these are well timed, and respond well to your actions. There's also a nice voiceover for your actions in the robot workshop that tries to take you by the hand through the process of creating your own metal mangling machine. This is crisp and clear, and usually quite helpful, although in some cases it is slow to respond to your choices, and there isn't a sound clip for every eventuality.

Playability/replay ability

There's plenty to go at here, and beating the special tournaments will probably be you last task, which takes a while, but mostly because of the camera and arena design troubles. The reward of opening up the classic TV series robots should drive you to finish the game, as they are easily the best ones to use, and this is what adds to the replay ability. You can act out grudge matches, which although limited to the 10 or so famous robots from the series, should prove entertaining for a while. Once you've beaten them, the tournaments are open forever, so once you've beaten the whole game, there's no real desire to start again. The ability to trade your robots and the two player should create more life for the game if you've got a like minded chum. It took me around four weeks to see pretty much everything in here, but I can see myself going back to it again for at least another few battles.

Final Verdict

Rent or Buy: Buy – it takes too long to see everything, although its great at the start, the really good parts aren't available until the end.

Rating: I think about a 7 is appropriate for this game, the camera and arena designs spoil some of the fun. If a sequel were to solve these minor problems, it would probably be an 8.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/26/04