PSX GAME RECOMMENDATIONS |

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Games are recommended on a four-point scale like those "strongly agree/disagree" questions you get on surveys. This scale goes "Strongly", "If you like this kinda game", "Watch it online", and "Avoid at all costs" from best to worst. It's one part how likely I am to replay the game and one part how likely I am to recommend it to fans of that game's genre. I'm not in the business of objectivity, just what's fun to me. No reason to play a game if you're not having fun, yeah?

[#] Robotron X (Midway, 1996)

I'm a huge Robotron: 2084 fan. You can't fuck it up: screen full of robots, two eight-way joysticks, one to move, one to fire. Shoot robots, collect humans for big points. It frazzles your nerves, it looks and sounds like nothing else, and games rarely last more than five minutes. It might very well be my favorite golden age arcade game; it's just unfortunate that Robotron X proves you can indeed fuck it up. It's not all bad! There is good news—very little of it involves playing this game though.

X has two main issues that make it a gigantic headache to play, and that's framerate and pacing. Frames drops all the time when the screen gets busy, something even the arcade game managed to avoid. The pacing is even worse. Each wave is split by an unskippable, several seconds long intermission screen of your unsightly protagonist flipping through space, and in the later waves, new enemies get dropped on your head constantly. Over 200 waves, this becomes an absolute slog.

There's an ugly, eerie feeling to this game, with all its black voids, freakish faces, and grotesque gigantic robot brains. It's a little hard to look at. The one genuine highlight I can cite is the soundtrack, all heavy hardcore and gabber from Midway's unsung soundtrack hero Aubrey Hodges (buy it on Bandcamp, it's good). This one got a much better port for the Nintendo 64 as Robotron 64, so if you want 3D Robotron (and believe me, I do), check out that one instead.

Reviewed	Supports analog controls?	My favorite part	Recommended?
February 4, 2021	No	Easily the soundtrack	Avoid at all costs

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