Robotron X
$54.95, Best Buy, Richfield MN
Williams Entertainment

The retro fad is in full swing. Gamers, like me, who were weened on 
the coin-ops of the early eighties, are now ready to dump large 
amounts of cash to relive the glory days with today's next-gen home 
systems. Sure, the classics have ALWAYS influenced game designers: 
Donkey Kong-Super Mario Bros- Crash Bandicoot (and Mario 64...) is 
an obvious progession. Another interesting one: Berserk-Castle 
Wolfenstein-Wolf3d-Doom. Phase 2 of the retro movement has turned 
"influence" into "emulation". With today's processors, designers 
can recreate the original chip-sets and create near-perfect 
duplicates of the old games. Namco's Museum series and William's 
Arcade Classics are two great examples. Now the third retro phase 
has begun. Companies are taking their licensed classics and giving 
them new graphics, new features and more. Case in point: Robotron X.

GRAPHICS: 5
Sure, there are a TON of rendered sprites whizzing around the screen. 
But the designers sacrificed graphics quality & frame rate to keep 
the speed up. The result looks very clunky; almost 16-bit. I know, I 
know, each little enemy, bullet & pylon is a collection of polygons, 
something that no SNES or Genesis could do, but apparently the almighty 
PSX can't handle it either (more accurate perhaps: these DESIGNERS 
couldn't exploit the PSX well enough?). If the polygons detract THIS 
much from the frame rate, then are they really worth it? Even worse: 
compare the original to X's overhead view. Uck! This is progress?

SOUND AND MUSIC: 8
The gun shots, explosions, and buzzes are straight out of the original, 
which were awesome then & still cool today. This is more of a testament 
to the original than anything else, but Williams was wise to leave the 
sounds unchanged. The techno tracks are fine accompaniment for the 
action.

GAMEPLAY: 4
If the original Robotron were not available for the PSX, then I'd give 
X an 8, maybe even a 9; Robotron, in whatever form, kicks major buttage. 
As a sequel, though, X falls flat. Hundreds of games have weapon 
power-ups, and adding them to Robotron was logical. In fact, Smash TV (a 
great game that was HEAVILLY influenced by Robotron), had some of the 
coolest power-ups ever. Plus, the new weapons stayed with you from 
room-to-room, level-to-level. X's power-ups, however, are mediocre, at 
best. The pulse wave & flame thrower (only seen on the later waves) are 
neat, but they're used up MUCH too quickly.  Since these enhancements 
are temporary, there's no sense of character improvement. Bummer!
Another BIG missed chance: multi-player capability. The jewel case 
actually has the gall to claim "2-players". Notice how it doesn't say 
"simultaneous". Again, this is something that other Robotron clones 
(like Smash TV) use to great effect. I was truly disappointed when I 
tried the two-player mode; Williams really fumbled on this one.
More problems: unlike the original, the enemies in X are not all present 
at the start of a wave. So, as you start clearing off the board, more 
nasties start teleporting in. And more. And more. On some levels, it 
gets real old, real fast. I've NEVER considered the original to be 
tedious, but X's levels can drag on & on. 

On the positive side, the camera angle does provide a very effective 
sense of immersion, at the cost of limiting your field of vision. And 
the variety of enemies does keep things interesting.

CONTROL: 9
With the added processing needed for the polygons, I would've expected 
some sluggishness out of the controls. Fortunately, I was wrong. 
Controls are crisp, responsive, and (thanks to the Arcade Classics 
version...) I'm now used to hitting two fire buttons for a single 
diagonal shot.

MECHANICS: 7
The menu structure is logical, and the option for saving games is MUCH 
appreciated. Load times are usually acceptable: levels are cached five 
at a time. However, in the weak "two player" mode (Players 1 & 2 
alternating when a death occurs), this causes problems: if Player 1 is 
on level six, and Player 2 is still on three, the load times become 
annoying. Again: how DARE they call this a two player game. Did anyone 
at Williams actually play test this with two people?

Personally, I loved the original, and the PSX Arcade Classics version 
was great. But I just can't get jones'd over Robotron X. Sure, the 3-d 
is cool, and the power-ups (while you have them) are ok. But there just 
isn't enough that's new to make me feel like my purchase was wise. Sure, 
my anticipation and expectations for this game were pretty high, which 
makes the crappy features that much worse. But if Williams is going to 
bill this a new game, then they need to put a lot more effort into it 
then Robotron X displays. Not having tried Tempest X, I'm a little wary 
of this latest retro trend. If you want to play Robotron, you're much 
better off nabbing the Arcade Classics version. Plus, you'll get a 
gaggle of other cool oldies, for less money. 

Erik Anderson
erikandr@visi.com