Video game fraud
Few games have ever been as hyped and anticipated as Rise of the Robots. It was supposed to represent a technological breakthrough, and an amazing achievement in games development. However, the only real achievement was in PR, as the entirety of gaming press and public were duped into believing this would represent the highest pinnacle of 16-bit gaming.
This review was written concurrent with the release of RotR
Anticipation and excitement; the emotions any player surely feels upon getting their hands on one of the most eagerly awaited titles in recent years. This is certainly the case with Rise of the Robots, as few games have ever received such massive pre-release interest. All this only serves to make the shock upon playing RotR even more profound though, as somehow an incomprehensibly dire gaming experience has been delivered. Such a judgement you may assume to be an exaggeration, as with so much expectation on the developer, they could surely never deliver fully. But this is not an exaggeration, and it should be made quite clear that this one-on-one fighting game deserved none of the attention it received during development.
The majority of interest in RotR arose due to a supposed revolution in graphical technology. In this department, major steps have certainly been made. The characters in Rise are pre-rendered, and whilst motionless, they do look very good, and are certainly an evolution, if not a revolution. But despite the high quality of this modelling, the animation of the characters is of rather lower quality, something immediately apparent as soon as they move. Only a few frames of animation exist for each character, meaning that fights have no fluidity at all.
In terms of sound, the game also starts well, with an opening riff from Queen’s Brian May. After that, the game shoots quickly downhill though, with bleeping synthetic music that defies what has been proven possible with chip based music.
Of course, the key to any game is its gameplay. Indeed, no genre relies more on its actual play mechanics more than the fighting game. Sadly, it is in this area that RotR is totally abysmal, with absolutely no redeeming element. The player takes control of a Cyborg in RotR, and must test their skills against other robots, be they other humanoid bots or glorified forklifts. In a single player game, this Cyborg character is the only one available, while in two player fights, one of the players must still be the Cyborg. This is far from the only gameplay limitation present though. The main character, Cyborg, has very, very few moves at his disposal. Do not expect a level of complexity that is even comparable to Mortal Kombat, let alone Street Fighter II. NPC artificial intelligence is also dire, with opponents occasionally resorting to just walking back and forth punching randomly. The collision detection is woeful, with kicks damaging the enemy, despite appearing to strike air. Ultimately, any player who manages to get past the early rounds, or continue playing after dieing, demonstrates both enviable luck and admirable patience. Rise of the Robots really is, quite simply, terrible and unplayable.
Rise of the Robots was actually not without its technical merits - yes really! It provided a genuine advance in character modelling, and some of its cinematics were of a decent standard. But the complete lack of gameplay was, and still is, shocking, as RotR is even less playable now, than it was in 1995. Furthermore, such was the level of expectancy, that the subsequent level of disappointment was accentuated. In closing, it seems rather ironic that the company behind RotR was called ‘Mirage’, as they tricked everyone by supplying a visual treat, but one that had no substance at all.