
	Platform PC Genre Robot Battles Publisher roboforge.net Developer roboforge.net ESRB T (Teen) Released Q3 2001

- Excellent on-line game - Interesting approach to strategy - Love those "girly-shots" between loadings - Low system requirements

- Don't even consider not having the latest version - Have to design every conceivable move a nd attack

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Roboforge

Score: 7.8 / 10

Have you ever watched BattleBots™ on TV and decided that you could build a better robot? I did, and let's just say that it might help if you know something about "robotics", or "electricity", or even "metal work". It was brutal - I don't think that my dad was so impressed with me taking apart the lawn-mower and leaf-blower… especially when I set the garage on fire. But don't worry, my adage has always been "when you fail and re-double your efforts there's no limit to what you can't accomplish." Anyway, I digress. RoboForge is a robot-battlin' game where you build your own robot to battle on-line in sponsored tournaments.

Your robot can either be designed completely from the ground up or using only a stripped chassis or a mostly pre-built robot. With the pre-built chassis, you are only responsible for choosing weapons, the brain, and sensor package but with the complete construction job the details are even more complex - choosing types of joints… and the list goes on. The strengths and weaknesses of each part are important. You might be choosing all of the most expensive parts but you may be limiting your mobility or worse, designing the robot equivalent of a DeLorean (overpriced and likely to breakdown). (But able to travel through time! - Omni)

One of the features that will appeal to some but draw immense hatred from others is the programming mode. Once you have your robot constructed, you begin programming all of the necessary attack modes and evasion patterns. Don't go thinking that the three base patterns that have been included will cut it. I actually

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watched my uber-bot get its ass kicked by a dummy. All it would do is get in close and let the other robot wail on it while it tried to bring it's huge gun to bear - it was like watching a grizzly get mauled by a gnat. My first on-line tournament involved the kind of mocking that usually only happens whenever I try to play pool - my robot lasted 30 seconds only because my opponents were expecting someone better.

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Once your robot is constructed, you have some really neat graphic options to zoom in on your creation and pose it for some "snapshots." I thought that it was a pretty cool feature except I filled my hard-disk because I hit the button too often. (So I suffer from obsessive compulsive disorder, sue me.) The programmed attacks can also be saved as a snapshot for future reference. Guys will appreciate the loading pictures - gotta love a group that's willing to put girlie shots up while loading features.

Roboforge is the ultimate on-line game because anyone with a modem can enjoy it (from T1 lines at work and school to those lucky bastards with DSL lines to poor fools like me with 56.6 modems) because all of the matches are controlled by AI not the gamer. Think of it as a way to watch all of your hard work reduced to smoldering components with nothing for you to do but pray. The converse is the necessity to have the latest version of the game on deck. I accidentally downloaded the wrong version and when I went to play it, I had to wait for 3 hours for the update to download - it's really hard to stay pissed off for that long (Gee, I wonder if that's why they have waiting periods on hand guns?).

All in all, this is a great game for someone who loves strategy games or building stuff and would like to play on the 'net. People with monster computers will not get the chance to show off their computers' abilities with this title. It's not for everyone, but I'm positive that a devoted following will arise.

- Tazman