Robotron: 2084

The Good
Ok, they made technically good PC port of actually very good, almost iconic Arcade game.

The Bad
This game is not suitable for porting to personal computers. On Arcade, it was played with 2 tough joysticks where you were able to move with them like crazy. On PC, forget. You can use either keyboard or only one joystick. If you survive with keyboard control for more than several dozens of seconds, probably you have some inhuman abilities (you control with one hand walking into 8 directions with one set of keys, and independently with other hand another 8 keys for fire direction). With joystick/controller it's a bit better (however you can't independently control walk/fire directions like in original Arcade, but at least you survive longer compared to crazy keyboard controls).

The Bottom Line
Game was perfect on Arcade machines, but it's not suitable for PC. There are better arcade titles available on PC from the same year.

The Good
Robotron: 2084 is a game that is a bit too hard for me. The Apple II version has states clearly what the story is: In the year 2084, man perfects the Robotrons, which are so advanced that he is inferior to his own creation. After discovering their unique ability, the Robotrons decide to destroy the human race, and take the last family hostage. Your job is to kill all the robots that get in your way (who have different ways to kill you), and save this family before they get turned into deadly Progs.

There are severals waves in which you have to do this. Once you have completed your objective, you move on to the next level. If a robot touches you, or shoots at you, you get electrocuted and lose one life. But there are several other enemies besides robots that you have to worry about, such as hazards that lay around that could destroy you or the robots. You get some points by saving one member of the family, but you can enter the next level without doing this.

The Commodore 64 version, and all other versions for that matter, look and play the same as the coin-op version. However, the advantage of the home versions is not only can you still run and shoot at the same time in all directions, but you don't have to control two joysticks: one for running, and the other for shooting. This gives you an advantage over robots that shoot, as the robots cannot shoot diagonally at you. The game gets difficult at Wave 5 onwards with about twenty robots moving all over the place, and different robots who shoot at you if you are not careful.

The graphics in the C64 version are average. The characters are much bigger than the ones from the coin-op version, and I like the title screen, where several Williams logo in different colored circles rotate around the screen, and I quite like the way that the "2084" in the title is written.

The Bad
Nothing.

The Bottom Line
The game is a bit difficult for me, so next time, I might as well play a game of Berzerk instead.

Rating: ***