Review: RoboWarrior

The 1980s were an amazing time. The hippie propaganda machine of the 60s, which pointed to humanity as the greatest enemy the Earth has ever known, finally gained mass acceptance and was spoon-fed to children in schools with big words like “CFCs” that nobody understood nor cared about.

This joyous fanaticism brought about the creation of two things: Captain Planet and RoboWarrior. While Captain Planet was the most miserable excuse for a cartoon in the history of the decade, RoboWarrior was actually a good game–greenhouse effect aside.

In the distant future, pollution has plunged the Earth into ruin. The genius scientist Altile devised a plan to create a new artificial planet in a distant galaxy to house the Earth’s overpopulation. Altile died and never saw his dream realized, but in his memory, the colonists named the planet after him.

Aside from saving the world from certain destruction, the creation of Altile united the Earthlings in a common cause and war vanished. The RoboWarrior units which had been used in Earth defense for so long were shut down.

In 2036 A.D., only 65 years before all bases would belong to Cats, Xur, the ruthless dictator of the Xantho Empire, invaded Altile from his alternate dimension. His first move–to destroy the weather control system of the planet plunging it into eternal winter. With the land barren, the men and women of Altile were forced to flee underground to try to escape the cold temperatures. Their last act was to send a message to Earth for help.

The Earth scientists reactivated the Z-Type Earth Defense cyborg (ZED, not to be confused with ‘ZIG’), the most feared of all RoboWarriors. After visiting Han Solo in Mos Eisley, they managed to buy ZED passage on the Millennium Falcon to get to Altile. ZED lands in Landor (not Lando). ZED has to find his way to the weather station, defeat Lord Xur, and bring warmth to the ravaged land once again.

All in all, the plot in not terribly bad–it’s the implementation of it is where the game is lacking. Without the instruction booklet, there is no plot. Some kind of text introduction would have helped, but if the game was purchased used, the player was doomed to never know what was happening.

ZED’s arsenal consists of over a dozen weapons and tools, each with a specific use and varying rarity. His base attacks are bombs, for clearing obstacles, and a beam gun for shooting down the aliens. Collecting Power Balls can enhance the range of ZED’s beam gun to eventually cover the entire screen.

Bombs are the most important part of the game (it was originally titled “Bomber King” in Japan), and they take a long time to master. ZED’s bombs detonate one second after he drops them, not leaving much time to get away–especially when being hampered by enemies. If ZED is in the range of his bomb when it detonates, he can expect to lose an entire power cell worth of life. Up to two bombs can be placed on the screen at once.

The bomb inventory decreases as it’s used. Bombs which are going to explode are orange. The bombs left by enemies are blue and can be collected to refill your stock. There are also Super Bomb treasures which increase ZED’s bomb stock by 10.

As ZED is a robot, just being powered up will deplete his energy reserves. To keep ZED fueled, look for Life Pods and Energy Tanks, which restore one power cell and all power cells respectively.

The gameplay is fairly straight-forward, but without taking time to fully master all of ZED’s items and his controls, the game can become extremely difficult, to the point of impossible. The game is divided into 8 levels called “phases,” as ZED journeys from Landor to Regency, the inner capital of Altile not under the control of Xur. Some levels have bosses, some don’t. At the end of every phase, a key is needed to make the exit to the stage appear. Some other stages have a looping level that can only be escaped by finding the Chalice somewhere in the level.

ZED hates baths. In fact, when he ends up in water, he will die within two seconds if he does not get out. His Life Vest tool becomes extremely valuable in later stages, since it’s the only way to avoid drowning. The Life Vest and other items can be found by clearing terrain, or through hidden stairways which lead ZED to the dark underground where power-ups littered everywhere. Of course, these subterranean treasure troves also contain a cadre of aliens waiting to disassemble ZED.

One factor which brings strategy, or annoyance, to the game is how it only scrolls right. It is impossible for players to backtrack if they accidentally take the wrong path or miss a Chalice. This can make unfamiliar areas dramatically more difficult. Keys and Chalices always appear in the same position despite other items being randomly placed, so it’s a good idea to make a mental note of their general areas for next time.

Perhaps one of the most annoying things in the game is its indestructible walls. Often times, ZED’s path will be blocked by walls that lack a single bomb-able block. Generally, a single tile of the wall can be destroyed by bombing it 3 - 5 times. However, there are never any clues as to which ones it is. It’s very easy to exhaust ZED’s bomb supply guessing.

This game demands patience, and lots of it. It’s very easy for a player to become frustrated by blowing up ZED with a few misplaced bombs. The fact the game only offers players one life doesn’t make it any less irritating–one mistake and it’s game over.

The music of RoboWarrior is quite good. The upbeat tunes really show off the power of the (somewhat limited) 2A03 sound unit in the Nintendo Entertainment System. The weak point is how few songs there are–only 14 for the entire game, and maybe five of them used for levels. It can get repetitive, but the songs are fairly long, so it’s not Bokosuka Wars repetitive.

RoboWarrior was originally developed by Hudson, the makers of Bomber Man. It’s often been considered to be a bomber game for more mature audiences who enjoy a game for challenge, and tend to have more patience than younger audiences. This is not a title for someone who gets frustrated very quickly.

If you enjoyed older games that were designed for difficulty, and having score challenges with your friends, RoboWarrior may bring back fond memories of the kinds of games we no longer see today, when titles are geared to meeting the instant-gratification needs of the Sesame Street generation.