115 lines
7.2 KiB
Plaintext
115 lines
7.2 KiB
Plaintext
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ROBOSPORT
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ROBOSPORT is war by proxy. The manual for this game opens with the
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"ROBOSPORT world preservation decree," which reads: "In the beginning there
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were humans. Humans made robots and gave them intelligence. Unfortunately,
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humans never gave themselves intelligence. Humans crave senseless violence
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and destruction. They revel in competition. They find pleasure in planning
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and execution of battles. They need war." The manual tells players that this
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is the reason why supercomputers forced humans to make war like this in 2010.
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I have a sneaking suspicion that people will play this game because it is so
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much fun! (This review is based on the Macintosh version.)
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The game allows several human or computer players to pit teams of heavily
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armed robots against one another in a variety of arenas. Each player takes
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turns to enter orders using a simple form of programming. Once all the robots
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on each team have been programmed, the turn can begin. The actual battles are
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displayed on a scrolling map of the arena, in the form of a video which can
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be player forward and backwards at different speeds, or paused. As the movie
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of the turn is played, the robots run and hop about, fire their weapons, and
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generally run amok. The animation and sound effects on the Mac version are
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excellent. I particularly like the way in which the robots give out a small
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laugh when they destroy an enemy robot. In addition, the whole game can be
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stored as a movie to be played back once the battle has been lost and won
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using a special player application.
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After an attractive introductory sequence (with digitised speech), the game
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opens with a simple scenario editor. This allows players to select the number
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of teams, and one of several arenas and games. There are three different
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types of arena - circuit board, suburbs and what looked like Beirut to me.
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Each offers different tactical problems and opportunities. There also a
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number of games to play. These all seem to have evolved from childhood games.
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Each team has a home base, and some of the games involve a kind of baseball
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using these bases, others involve rescuing hostages from opponents' bases.
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One is simply a slugfest; a battle to the death.
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Lastly there can be up to four teams, and each one can be human or computer
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controlled. There is also a custom game option, which allows a player to
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create custom scenarios. These can vary the size and composition of teams,
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the AI strategies of different computer controlled players. The custom game
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also offers a wide variety of variations on the standard playing arena. In
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all there are so many options for changing the game, that it is proabably
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fair to say that there is an infinity of battles waiting to fought.
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The multiplayer option on the mac allows up to four human players to compete
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over an Appletalk network, or two over a serial (null modem) or modem link.
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The computer players can be set to play in a defensive, highly aggressive or
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crafty way. I found it quite easy to beat the computer opponents on the
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introductory scenarios, but on all the scenarios I designed myself, I was
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soundly beaten nearly every time, despite giving myself extra robot warriors.
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This is a testament to the strength of the AI in the game, and to the variety
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of games that ROBOSPORT can create. I found that "crafty" computer controlled
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teams were very adept at ambushes, and in turning my carefully constructed
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defenses into a shambles. The aggressive enemy launched massive human-wave
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(or should that be robot-wave) attacks on my bases, and was often very
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successful, even at some cost. Because the enemy's robots are not shown
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unless 'scanned' by a friendly robot, it is hard to judge the computer's
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overall strategy. Nevertheless, on any but the basic games, I always felt
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that I was facing a worthy opponent.
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The user interface on the Mac version is extremely easy to use. The robot
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programmes are represented graphically on the top of the screen, while
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location and movement during the programming phase are shown on the arena
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map. As each new sequence is programmed in, the movements of these robots are
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shown on the map as a new sequence is input, allowing the player to co-
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ordinate maneouvres. Robots can be programmed to move, duck and hide, and to
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scan and shoot. Their movement on the map is input simply by clicking the
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mouse at a given location, and the robot will move along the quickest route
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to that point. A robot may move as far as its speed will allow it to in the
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time available. Each order or movement takes a certain time, and each turn
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has a fixed length. There, is however, no obvious limit on the number of
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orders that can be issued in a turn, providing that it does not take longer
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than the length of the turn to execute them. They can carry a variety of
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weapons, including grenades, machine guns, and missiles. Each has different
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characteristics, such as range and accuracy, that change their effectiveness.
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Often several robots with different weapons have to operate in teams in
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order to ensure a good balance of weapons. When replayed the weapons produce
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different sound effects and animations. For example, a missile creates an arc
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of smoke with the appropriate sound effects. Although the maps are two
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dimensional and viewed 'top-down' the effect of the animation and sound
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effects is to make the movie playback look like a cartoon. The robots move in
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short hops, and have little exclamations when hit or destroyed adding to the
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visual appeal of the game. The windows on the Mac version are resizable, and
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can be viewed in 16 colours or in mono. In Maxis's previous games, the Amiga,
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PC and ST translations have resembled the Mac version very closely, even to
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the extent of having resizable windows. Although I have not seen any other
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versions of the game, it seems safe to assume that they will resemble the Mac
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version closely.
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I discovered no bugs while testing the game. I found the manual an good
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guide to playing the game, not least because it contained some useful
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tactical hints. I also liked the box, which has on it what seems to be a
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computer generated image of robots fighting. It looks like it was done using
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MacRenderman - a 3D photorealistic image generator on the Mac. It is a
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striking image and a good representation of the game itself. My only niggle
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was that the game did not have any kind of provision for tournement play or
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for league tables of teams, as in many of the football manager games. If it
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were played regularly by groups of friends, it would be a good idea to keep
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track of their successes and failures. The provision of a movie recorder
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which can save an entire game for later viewing is only a partial
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compensation for the lack of this feature.
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Overall, this game is an excellent concept, excellently implemented. It
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should appeal to any human who likes senseless violence and destruction. It
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might also appeal to those who likes a little strategy with their flash
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graphics.
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I tested the Mac version. It uses no physical copy protection, but requires
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players to enter details from the manual each time the game is loaded. It
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requires 1MB of RAM for mono, and 2 for colour games. It will run on Plus,
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SE, Classic, SE/30, LC, Mac II, IICX, IICI, IIFX, and portable. It supports
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the Imagewriter and Laserwriter.
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