Robotron: 2084
Action this intense is only a few years away
By Joey KayNovember 13, 2001
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Robotron 2084 is one of the most intense games you will ever play.
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Save the humanoids from certain death!
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There are a lot of enemies to avoid. Don't touch the deadly immovable objects either!
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One of the original games slated for release in 1984, 7800
Robotron is another accurate port of an arcade hit to the 7800.
For those unfamiliar with the premise of Robotron 2084 - the object is simple: shoot everything and rescue the
humans! According to the storyline, Robotrons are a breed of
robot so advanced that they do not need humans to function. Unfortunately, these Robotrons have concluded that humans are inefficient and must be
destroyed! YIKES! It's now up to you to destroy the Robotrons, rescue the humans, and save
mankind. Williams attempted to market this arcade classic as the follow-up to
Defender - but there seems to be little connection.
There are seven different types of Robotrons which you must battle. They range from the mindless Grunt robots whose sole mission is to kill you to the Giant Brainbots which shoot cruise missiles and reprogram humans into enemy
Progs.
Similar to Berzerk, touching any of the Robotrons is fatal. All Robotrons can be destroyed by your laser except the
indestructible Hulkbots which chase and kill humans. Each wave seems to have a theme - with most rounds featuring attacks by Grunts, Spheroids (which spawn Enforcer robots), and
Hulks. However, every fifth round has an attack of Brainbots, and every seventh round has an attack of "Cubic Quarks" which spawn "Torturing
Tanks". Your strategy in each round is to save the last surviving family
of" Mommy, Daddy, and Mikey" by touching them and shoot the Robotrons in the
process. Scoring is identical to the arcade game.
As in the arcade game, control is ambidextrous. Your player control is done with one joystick, while the direction of your shots is controlled with the
other. However, to accommodate those who can't hold two joysticks at once (and who can?), you can press the fire button and whatever direction you travel will be the direction of your
shots. When originally announced in 1984,
Robotron was to include a joystick holder so you could control both sticks at
once. As with most extra goodies for the 7800, this controller holder was canned when the 7800 was finally released in 1986.
The smooth and quick animation of Robotron 2084 shows off just how many sprites the 7800 can painlessly toss
around. However, the characters seem to lack the colorful detail of the arcade version giving the game an overall dry
look. When compared with similar 7800 titles such as
Food Fight, Robotron just doesn't hold it's own graphic-wise. On the plus side, however, there seems to be less slow-down in
Robotron than in Food Fight when the amount of moving objects gets to be astronomical. Most surprisingly, however, is how, animation-wise, the 7800 version stacks up against the Lynx version of
Robotron. In the 7800 version, the Grunt robots move very smoothly, whereas the Lynx port seems to have the Hulkbots moving in course
clumps. In summation, the 7800 version is great animation-wise but dry graphic-wise.
Sound is close to the arcade version but there is only so much that can be done with the 2600 sound
chip. Interestingly, a few of the sounds seem to be borrowed directly from the 7800
Joust, another Williams arcade port. The screams of the humans as they get attacked by Hulkbots and the zapping sound as the Brainbots form are all okay, but just seem
dry. There is too much action going on at once in this game for the limited sound capability of the 7800 -
Robotron 2084 is another title which would have greatly benefited
from an on-board POKEY chip.
As with all the original ten arcade ports for the 7800, Robotron comes very close to the
original. However, when put side-by-side to the arcade version, this game looks generic. It
just seems to be lacking the full color and sound of the arcade version. It does, however, keep gameplay accurate to the
arcade. Of the "original
ten," Robotron 2084 is probably close to the bottom. Despite the excellent animation, the graphics are just too much like a 2600
game. However, once you get involved in the quick-paced gameplay, this is quickly forgotten and saving humanity is your number one priority!
Game Data |
Scores
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| Title |
Robotron: 2084 |
Graphics |
75% |
| Publisher |
Atari |
Sound/Music |
80% |
| Genre |
Action |
Gameplay |
95% |
| System |
7800 |
Control |
N/A% |
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Overall |
85% |
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