Pong and Beyond

507th played so far

Genre: Shoot ‘Em Up
Platform: Arcade
Year of Release: 1982
Developer: Vid Kidz
Publisher: Williams Electronics

Robotron 2084 is yet another shooter. not something that thrills me most days. Fine, but little more. I think I best just play it.

Our Thoughts

Robotron 2084 looks pretty simple – even for its time the graphics seem a bit primitive, crude sprites moving around an arena. The standard two stick setup – one for movement, one for direction of fire – is present, but remains feeling as uncoordinated as ever. The lack of scrolling requires more precise controls for positioning, which makes all of it feel a bit off.

What doesn’t quite help with that (but adds a nice twist to the game) is that aside from enemies that need to be shot and avoided, there are humans walking around the field that you can rescue for bonus points. That requires more precise movement, and adjusting your shots as you move along.

Once you can manipulate the controls into order, then, the game becomes a pretty decent single screen shooter. There are loads of different enemies with their own patterns and ways to avoid them and the challenge ramps up at a decent speed, never leaving you too overwhelmed or feeling it goes too slow. It can be a bit of a rarity to see that balance in arcade games, but it works well here.

Final Thoughts

Robotron 2084 feels very much of its age, with some dated graphics and controls (Ms Pac Man seems to look better, and I recall Scramble handling things a bit better), but the thought put into its gameplay is better and seems more challenging – with a more appropriate difficulty curve.