A Review of The Rise of the Robots for the Amiga CD32

Beat’em up was one of the most popular game genres of the 1990’s. People couldn’t get enough of games like Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Final Fight and Double Dragon. Needless to say, the excitement reached a fever pitch when Time Warner Interactive announced the coming release of the Rise of the Robots (from now on known as ROTT) for the Amiga. Seldom has a game seen as much hype as ROTT did back then. The magazines were full of pictures, interviews and speculations about it and people couldn’t wait until it hit the shelves.

Did ROTT deliver? Was it worth all the fuzz? Is it a game that is fun to play even today?

Let’s have a look at what this old-school beat’em up has to offer.

The first thing which you’ll notice about the Amiga CD32 version is the amazing introduction to the game. It is in 3D and looks stunning. It is clear that the developers have spent a lot of resources and time on making the game look as good as possible. Well done. Before each battle there’s also an animation of a robot and a briefing of the mission at hand. The briefings aren’t exactly interesting, but does provide some information about the enemy you are about to engage. Then the screen fades and you suddenly find yourself in a desperate battle against a dangerous robotic foe.

Or do you…..?

Well, to be honest, the “action” is not fast paced. It is far from exciting. Actually it is a bit dull. There’s no music to pump up the adrenaline either, only the monotone background noise of some conveyor belts going round and round. In games like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat, the music fits perfectly and creates a fitting atmosphere. Nothing of this sort in ROTT I’m afraid.

Defeating the enemy is far too easy and it is clear that the AI is quite bad. You can easily kick the ass (the rear part of the robots) of your opponents in a short amount of time. Throw in some punches, do a flying kick and you are there, victorious. It is also worth mentioning that there aren’t many moves you can perform with your fighter. This makes the game easy to learn and master, but not challenging. You don’t get any sense of accomplishment after defeating your foe.

I don’t enjoy slugging of games and nothing would please me more than to say that ROTT is a fun game to play. Then again, I’ll have to be honest you guys. ROTT has no feeling of involvement. Sometimes it just feels like the game is about showing of the graphical capabilities of the creators engine.

To sum it all up, I won’t recommend Rise of the Robots. If you’re looking for an entertaining and old-school beat’em up on the CD32, have a go at Shadow Fighter (perhaps not the most famous title around, but very good!) or Super Street Fighter 2 instead. If you still insist to give it a chance, do it for the graphics. They are nicely done and quite impressive. But I can assure you.. you won’t come back for more.