Rise of the Robots

The Good
The graphics were excellent for their time, with digit\ed robots and stunning backdrops. Even on the A500 it looked better than many PC games of the day.

The Bad
At all but the hardest difficulty level, you could beat the opponents by using the same move repeatedly. In a two player game, the guy on the left won whenever he used that move.

In one-player mode you could only play as one of the robots, which is explained by the plot, but seems like an excuse not to write the playing routines properly.

Worst of all, you can't jump over your opponents, meaning that you spend the whole game facing in the same direction. In 1984 that would've been laughed at - in 1994 it beggared belief.

There was virtually no in-game sound to speak of, and the guitar music in the intro could've been played by anyone.

The Bottom Line
Style sells over substance every time, and this is a depressing example. It was hyped to excess, many magazines gave it great reviews, but everyone who played it saw through it within hours, if not minutes.