Robotron: 2084
Posted April 25, 2006
Originally developed by Eugene Jarvis, creator of the popular Defender, Robotron 2084 has been adapted by Midway as a marketplace offering over Xbox Live Arcade. While minor upgrades and extra modes have been incorporated to spruce up the title, the gameplay remains untouched and faithful to its trigger happy roots. Robotron draws obvious similarities to other shooters such as Geometry Wars and Crystal Quest, but the online modes do set this game apart slightly from the rest of the pack. 
Midway does an extremely poor job setting up the story through presentation, even if it's just an arcade title. Essentially, the human race stupidly built robots with advanced artificial intelligence that have taken over the planet many years in the future. Of course, you and the handy Robot-Blasto 2000 can take back earth for humanity after defeating hordes of mean metal monstrosities. While not a particularly inventive back-story, it's effective for setting the objective of the game.
Gameplay:
As the game begins, your character appears in the center of the game board surrounded by swarming enemies. The object of the game is to shoot and destroy every baddie before they touch you. Sadly, the controls are limited to 4 directions only. This limited control scheme increases the difficulty dramatically, especially at the default level. It's extremely tough to traverse the first few levels without exhausting all of your lives.
Midway included a couple of online modes to test our shooting & movement skills against other Xbox Live users. The Co-op mode splits movement functions and directional shooting between the two players. This can be quite successful as you only have to concentrate on one game dynamic at a time. The Versus mode pits you against another Xbox Live user to compete for the highest score; each taking a turn at the board. This mode isn't really enjoyable unless you are out for bragging rights.
The achievements for 200 gamerscore points are broken up over a series of twelve tasks. The points are split 75% single player / 25% multiplayer. Of course, the massive level of difficulty at the default setting makes attaining all of the points nearly unfeasible. While I extremely dislike a game for having overly simple achievements, the same goes for the opposite. Midway should have done a better job structuring the achievements as challenging, yet reachable for the average gamer.
Graphics:
Visually, high definition upgrades are slightly apparent. In many ways, the level of graphic enhancement is nearly identical to the effort put forth for Gauntlet, another mediocre Midway title. The textures are blocky and the physics engine is woefully limited. It would have been much more interesting to see an entire graphical revamp of the title including an extended range of motion for the main character. Unfortunately, Midway was content with the bare minimum.
Audio:
The sounds effects are effective, but not entirely required. The style of gameplay within Robotron doesn't cater to using sound effects as a method of warning or reward. Also, there is no musical track within the menu or during a round of play. Overall, the auditory quality is representative of its 1982 counterpart.
Conclusion:
With the massive amount of turbulent shooters available over Xbox Live Arcade, it's hard to recommend one that wasn't built specifically for the Xbox 360. Even at the low end of the cost spectrum, Robotron: 2084 isn't a worthwhile investment due the lack of effort Midway put forth in terms of an upgrade. The online co-op mode does breathe some new life into the arcade classic, but the insane level of frustration resultant from the difficulty doesn't help. 360 owners would be better served in purchasing Geometry Wars or Crystal Quest if interested in a shooter.
Midway does an extremely poor job setting up the story through presentation, even if it's just an arcade title. Essentially, the human race stupidly built robots with advanced artificial intelligence that have taken over the planet many years in the future. Of course, you and the handy Robot-Blasto 2000 can take back earth for humanity after defeating hordes of mean metal monstrosities. While not a particularly inventive back-story, it's effective for setting the objective of the game.
Gameplay:
As the game begins, your character appears in the center of the game board surrounded by swarming enemies. The object of the game is to shoot and destroy every baddie before they touch you. Sadly, the controls are limited to 4 directions only. This limited control scheme increases the difficulty dramatically, especially at the default level. It's extremely tough to traverse the first few levels without exhausting all of your lives.
Midway included a couple of online modes to test our shooting & movement skills against other Xbox Live users. The Co-op mode splits movement functions and directional shooting between the two players. This can be quite successful as you only have to concentrate on one game dynamic at a time. The Versus mode pits you against another Xbox Live user to compete for the highest score; each taking a turn at the board. This mode isn't really enjoyable unless you are out for bragging rights.
The achievements for 200 gamerscore points are broken up over a series of twelve tasks. The points are split 75% single player / 25% multiplayer. Of course, the massive level of difficulty at the default setting makes attaining all of the points nearly unfeasible. While I extremely dislike a game for having overly simple achievements, the same goes for the opposite. Midway should have done a better job structuring the achievements as challenging, yet reachable for the average gamer.
Graphics:
Visually, high definition upgrades are slightly apparent. In many ways, the level of graphic enhancement is nearly identical to the effort put forth for Gauntlet, another mediocre Midway title. The textures are blocky and the physics engine is woefully limited. It would have been much more interesting to see an entire graphical revamp of the title including an extended range of motion for the main character. Unfortunately, Midway was content with the bare minimum.
Audio:
The sounds effects are effective, but not entirely required. The style of gameplay within Robotron doesn't cater to using sound effects as a method of warning or reward. Also, there is no musical track within the menu or during a round of play. Overall, the auditory quality is representative of its 1982 counterpart.
Conclusion:
With the massive amount of turbulent shooters available over Xbox Live Arcade, it's hard to recommend one that wasn't built specifically for the Xbox 360. Even at the low end of the cost spectrum, Robotron: 2084 isn't a worthwhile investment due the lack of effort Midway put forth in terms of an upgrade. The online co-op mode does breathe some new life into the arcade classic, but the insane level of frustration resultant from the difficulty doesn't help. 360 owners would be better served in purchasing Geometry Wars or Crystal Quest if interested in a shooter.