ST Format


Robozone
By Image Works
Atari ST

 
Published in ST Format #30

Robozone

Choosing a career as a "road cleaner" probably isn't at the top of most school-leavers' lists. They don't now what they're missing. There's the smart uniform for starters - a five ton, heavily armoured exo-suit. You get all your cleaning equipment strategy, too. Lasers, grenades, rocket launchers - everything you could possibly need to clean up the streets of a futuristic New York City.

And it's not Mars Bar wrappers and empty Coke cans that you pick up, either. The street trash that you wage war against in Robozone are giant mechanical meanies, and they don't run on unleaded petrol.

Level One involves finding your way through the subway system. You're armed with the 21st Century equivalent of a pea-shooter. There are meaner pieces of hardware - as well as much-needed energy - to collect. It seems that the more appealing the weapon, the worse it is. Grenades fall at your feet, rockets take too long to fire. Forget these pick-'em-ups. Get a better set of bullets and stick with them.

Robozone

Level Two goes 3D. It's basically a maze. You have to find your way out, avoiding the scavengers that infest the place. Level Three changes to a proper shoot-'em-up. Blast your way through yet more scavengers. This level culminates in a blast with the big baddie who's responsible for all the trouble in the first place.

Verdict

Robozone is billed as the first "green" game. This really is a load of nonsense - what's environmentally friendly about blasting robots into lumps of molten metal? No, forget the CFC-free angle, and take Robozone for what it really is. And what is is is a multi-stage blast-'em-up. The first two levels are a tedious combination of mapping and blasting. Things are much improved in Level Three. And that's 'cos it's basically an R-Type clone.

To get to the good bit of the game, you have to have the patience to play through a lot of dross. Forget about saving the environment. Save your money instead.

In Brief

  1. Mixture of genres, the only decent part of which is the R-Type style section.
  2. Single-sided drives can only access Level One. Coupon included for Levels Two & Three.

Adam Waring

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