

Rise of the Robots, by Absolute/ Mirage
1-2 Players, 3DO version
Fighting games are still all the rage. In the arcades and on the various consoles systems, more innovations are being done with fighting games than almost any other genre in the industry. The market has essentially become a war zone where companies are constantly trying to outdo what everyone else has done, in hopes that they'll have the next Street Fighter 2 or Mortal Kombat.
	Mirage Technologies of Europe decided early on that they wanted to make something that, at the time, was new and exciting. They created impressive robotic combatants using state of the art 3D rendering technology to (theoretically) create a new breed of fighting game. There was much excitement about their upcoming game, Rise of the Robots, and everyone had high hopes and even higher hype.
 	So now, after long delays, Rise of the Robots is finally out. Unfortunately, the game suffers from a bad case of much too little, much too late. By now, 3D rendering (always my favorite graphics technique) is gaining widespread usage throughout the industry--with Nintendo's awesome fighter, Killer Instinct, dominating the arcades and great games like Donkey Kong Country and Gex in homes and more on the way. With the glut of fighters for every system, a new one has to be really special to gain ground and simple graphic appeal isn't enough.
	Rise of the Robots suffers because it was already an old game at the time of its release. It was announced over two years ago, was delayed countless times and pushed along into the industry eye on pure smoke and mirrors. In all the time it took to get from the design stage to release, the designers completely neglected to upgrade their game engine to keep pace with the competition. 
	The 3DO version is definitely the best version of the game, however, and a lot of the features that caused all the hype are on this disk in full glory. Spectacular cinemas, cool soundtracks and excellent computer generated characters make Rise of the Robots a feast for the eyes and, to some extent, the ears. The robotic brawlers are all vastly different from one another, which is a rarity in fighting games and a big plus. Also, the game is storyline driven, which is a nice change of pace.
	In Rise of the Robots, the Metropolis 4 Electrocorp plant has been taken over by the ego-virus infected morphing Supervisor droid. The Supervisor has infected the rest of the robots in the plant and plans to start a war against humanity. Obviously, something must be done. As the story goes, the head office wanted to nuke the facility, but decided to give the ECO35-2 experimental cyborg a chance to clean up the plant instead. In order to minimize damage to the plant, the lone cyborg would go into the infected factory unarmed. Plot holes aside, it's not a bad excuse for wrenching metal together. 
	Unfortunately, the player can only take the role of the cyborg hero. To add insult to injury, even in the two player versus mode, player 1 must still always be the cyborg hero--which is downright inane. On top of that, there are only six other robotic combatants and, depending upon your skill level, you have to fight them twice in a row (with the exception of the final droid and the Supervisor if you play on normal or easy).  
	Play control for Rise of the Robots is fairly responsive and the game moves at a decent pace. There is no option to adjust the speed, however, which should be a given in any fighter. Unfortunately, the robots just don't have enough attack moves. Absolute made the 3DO version of Rise utilize the standard 6 button control, doing away with the powerup strength bar from previous versions. Pitifully, the robots still only have about ten moves each--the only difference between the various punch and kick buttons is the speed and power level of each attack. Also, like Samurai Shodown on the 3DO, in order to kick, you must hold the Right shift button down, then press A, B, or C.
	Special moves are less then special as well. These are high tech, awesome looking robots, but none of them have any specials with any pizzazz or interest at all. Special moves in Rise amount to things like shoulder rams, ariel headbutts and other mundane moves. There is nothing in the way of missile fire, electricity bolts, or anything at all that you'd expect a combat robot to have. Rise of the Robots also does not have body throw moves, which is equally as unfortunate. For the most part the special moves are pretty easy to do, involving simply pressing things like down, down and any of the punch buttons.
	There are some other odd quirks in the game as well. The characters should have been bigger and, on top of that, the backgrounds are totally static--they don't scroll at all. The game only allows you to choose between the cool Brian May soundtrack or an original techno soundtrack when first booting the game. Regrettably, the music is only played during the cinema sequences, not the actual game. Sound is extremely minimal while playing, limited to clanking attack sounds and some atmospheric, mechanical humming. Also, Rise of the Robots must be rebooted after a game ends--win or lose--which is inexplicable.
	Visually, Rise of the Robots has a lot to offer. The game has great movie-like sequences and highly original characters (two features that I'd like to see in other new fighting games). It's fun to watch and mildly entertaining to play, but doesn't have anywhere near the substance and play value of other fighting games. The total lack of different and interesting moves almost completely undermines Rise's visual ingenuity and appeal. 
	Bottom line: if you're looking for a good, solid fighting game for the 3DO, avoid Rise of the Robots and pick up Street Fighter 2, Samurai Shodown, or the upcoming Primal Rage and Mortal Kombat 3. If you're a fighting fan who just wants something new and different, then you might find Rise of the Robots enjoyable for its visual gimmickry. The storyline, told so visually, does tend to add quite a bit to the game, as do the original robot characters. It's just a real shame more wasn't done with such a great concept. Hopefully, there will be a sequel that takes care of Rise's shortcomings--the 3DO may not be able to handle polygonal based fighters like Virtua Fighter, or Toshinden, but a quality 3D generated fighter like Killer Instinct would be a welcome sight and wouldn't break a sweat on the hardware either.
