Robotron 2084! The year is 2084 YOU ARE THE LAST HOPE FOR MANKIND.

Bring it on! I say, Bring it on! and William's 1982 smash hit certainly did bring it on in massive wave after massive wave.

OK, this is where I confess that this is possibly my favourite Classic Game of all time. I will be bias in my review, I just can't help it I love this game so much. In 2003, 21 years after it was originally released or whichever year you are in when reading this, it makes no odds, the game play is still as exhilarating as ever. Boredom does not enter into the equation, you don't have time to be bored.

Robotron was the third and many reckon superior masterpiece by Eugene Jarvis. Yes you remember his name, the programmer on William's first arcade game hit Defender. Defender was a rock solid, hard, highly addictive game no doubts, but it was hard to play with all those buttons and joystick. Stargate followed along the same lines, but then came Robotron. The unique dual-joystick which was to simplify the game play happened by chance. Jarvis, a fan of Berzerk loved the concept of the game, but hated the joystick and the button run and shoot limitations of it. Add into the melting pot that Eugene, (silly boy), had just been involved in a car accident, and had broken his right hand, next thing you know hey presto you get the invention of the dual joystick control. Now hats of to Jarvis as in true game addict fashion, not one to be beaten by a mere broken hand preventing him from playing games, the guy invents a way round it, a 10 out of 10 and a lesson to us all I believe.

Robotron 2084 'attract mode'

The object of the game was very simple as with all Jarvis's games but ingenious at the same time. The attract mode goes something like this... Inspired by his never ending quest for progress, in 2084 man perfects the Robotrons: A robot so advanced that man is inferior to his own creation. Guided by their infallible logic, the Robotrons conclude: the Human race is inefficient, and therefore must be destroyed. Cue you, the last hope for mankind, 2 joysticks and your superhuman powers resulting from a genetic engineering error and away we go.

Robotron 2084 'attract mode intro'

You have to save the last human family, which is a bloody big extended one. It consists of Daddy (with briefcase), Mommy looking sexy in pink and a brat called Mickey. Out to stop you are Grunts, Hulks, Spheroids, Enforcers, Brains, Quarks and Tanks. During each wave, you must destroy all the Robotrons, (except the indestructible Hulks), and rescue as many humans as possible. After 255 waves the game starts all over again without affecting your score. Simple eh!!

The graphics although not groundbreaking where colourful, the sounds as you would expect from Willaims were hard-core as ever. The game play was and still is though pure Williams. If Defender was hard, then Robotron was its equal. As with all of Jarvis's games the game play was more important than the graphics. To get as many sprites on the screen as was needed the graphics needed to be simple. The quantity of enemies on the screen was the key to the game play, the confusion and mayhem that would ensue guaranteed an adrenaline fueled experienced unmatched at the time in any other video game.

Robotron 2084

Robotron throws everything at you. It is relentless, each wave getting harder and more crowded as you progress. There are some special waves like the Brain wave where points are up for grabs with loads of humans on the screen, but once the Brains start firing you need to destroy them, and quick. There's a Tank wave with bouncing projectiles which come at you off all 4 edges of the game area, there is even a screen with no boundary around it at all. Add to that Electrodes which litter the screen and kill you if you touch them and you begin to see why this game was so hard.

Having 2 joysticks mean't the cabinet could be rocked very easily and many a hard-core gamer would have to admit to having done it while playing the game. Death was a cheap commodity in the game and you lose life after life after life. A crowd would soon gather when an expert took the controls because the game was almost as fascinating to watch as it was to play.

Eventually the gamer would lapse into a semi trance like mode and all movement and firing was down to instincts as the speed of the game just left you behind. I fell into this trance on many occasions while playing the game. From the outside onlookers cannot believe the stunts and moves you are pulling off, but you are blissfully unaware of the furor around you because you have lapsed into your fluid reactionary movements and nothing else matters.

As our field tests proved, over zealous and prolonged gaming could result
in long term irreparable damage.

OK I have to boast a little here, I was good at this game and even attracted crowds in such esteemed establishments as 'Las Vegas' the arcade of the time in Soho - London. I was also always in the Hall of Fame locally at 'PopStop', my local arcade of choice at the time. By the way..., does anybody know what happened to the gorgeous girl who worked at the counter in said Popstop, dishing out the change for £1 notes to spotty kids like myself, she always wore pink short skirts and had blonde hair? I'm deviating, sorry...! Where was I, ah yes, anyway I was pretty damn good at this game!

Robotron 2084

The game cemented Jarvis as a true great of his time. The game was a massive hit for Williams and its legacy lasted even longer. In the 1990's the game's controls were revived when Smash TV came along (another Williams hit). The original cabinets are now prized by collectors worldwide. Even the story within the game itself predates many sci-fi plots, such as The Terminator and The Matrix, where machines become more intelligent than their masters and a dramatic struggle ensues.

Tips and Tricks:
There is a bug in the game that can make the game crash if you shoot into the corners. This is avoidable by turning off the attract mode.

On the Brains wave there is an algorithm mistake. The Brains are programmed to head for Mickey. If you can keep him alive and keep the Brains from getting to him you are free to rack up points on the screen by collecting all the Mommys wandering around, as they will not be targeted by the Brains so long as Mickey is alive.

On the Tank wave if you can avoid shooting the Tanks and they fire off 20 shots that do not hit anything, the Tanks will cease firing.

Summary
It may not have had the fanciest graphics in the world or even the best sounds for the day (although some would argue with that), but as is constantly proved by Classic Games the game play was so good and pure that it will last forever. Almost a quarter of a century after being released the game is as fresh and exciting as ever and will still make grown men sweat and swear at it as they struggle, just as they did 20 years ago, to master it. No greater testament to its unique status could be made! I endeth my case.

Overall Classic Game Rating - 9.5