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Robotron X
In the year 2084, all hell has broken loose on Earth.
Robotic servants, created to perform dangerous tasks and defend their human
creators, have decided they can do without their masters. The robots have
evolved into new and terrifying varieties - the ever-multiplying Ground Roving
UNit Terminators (GRUNTs), indestructible Hulks, self-replicating Quarks and
Tanks, and most horrfying of all, the Brain robots, which capture humans and
reprogram them into super-fast killing machines. You, as the genetically
engineered superhuman U-Gene, are the only thing protecting the last remaining
survivors of homo sapiens.
(Midway, 1995)
This rather good revamp of the original Robotron: 2084 was one of the earliest
obvious attempts to revamp an arcade classic for the current generation of video
game systems, and anyone who's ever played the emulation of the original game on
Arcade's Greatest Hits: The Williams
Collection can attest that the Playstation, with its dual directional
keypads on each controller, is a perfect platform for this game.
Despite the occasionally confusing 3-D perspective, Robotron X is a
nice challenge for fans of the original (and the perspective can be changed,
with the click of a couple of buttons, to something more traditionally
overhead). New species of enemy robotrons are added, and if anything, the
intensity is ramped up dramatically. I can do without the techno music, but it
can easily be turned down or off from the options menu.
There is one thing that bugs me slightly, though, and maybe it's just a sign
that I'm getting old and unhip. When you lose your last U-Gene "life,"
a GRUNT treats you to an animated homage to extreme wrestling as the "game
over" screen. I'm not sure how necessary it was to show this...but then
again, it's possible that an obvious Retro Revival such as Robotron X
isn't aimed at impressionable kids anyway.
Rating: 
Three quarters - worth repeat play, but with some annoying features that
might alienate less patient arcade veterans.
Reviewed by Earl Green
theLogBook.com editor/webmaster
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