Players control the ECO35-2 blue robot guy, trying to take down six other robots that have spun out of control. The entire premise is almost laughable. Entering into a section of some factory, players battle the robots in the usual three-round one-on-one fighting game format. The question is this: Would a rampaging killer robot that has turned against their master actually care about some three-round rule? Wouldn't it simply fight until it was no longer functional or its batteries were drained?
Available to the player are six basic punches and kicks and two special moves. Players can only control the blue robot guy through the main game. In multi-player battles, one-player controls blue robot guy while the second player can choose from any of the opposing robots. Nope, the player who is holding controller one really gets the short end of the games code. Baffling design deacons like this are only the beginning.
The enemy AI during the single player quest is laughable. Standing in one spot while blasting them with medium kicks will usually get the job done. The opponents are so stupid they'll walk right into your kicks every time. Only on the hardest level will the later 'bots figure this out.
The over-hyped graphics engine used to create this game is just pathetic. The slow moving (and soundless) full motion video that plays before each fight is impressive for the system, but once into the arena, things go downhill real fast. The characters are animated with little care and you'll see the same routine at different speeds for your light, medium, and strong attacks. The 256-color palette of the SNES is used to its fullest capacity, but the sprites have a grainy look to them since the downgrade was likely a large one.
None of the characters speak in anyway and the only real sound effect is that of metal shattering whenever a hit has been registered. The soundtrack by Brian May is usually lost in the background, but the menus have a few nice beats to keep things lively, arguably the games highlight. A few more sound effects could have made this a bit less repetitive.
Not only was this atrocity released to a ridiculous number of consoles (the Game Gear version is particularly funny), but the idiots even made a sequel. Finding a fighting game that is worse than Rise on a home console will be pretty much impossible. If the designers accomplished anything, it's solidifying their place in gaming history by crafting one of the worst games of all time. Congratulations!
