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Posted by spanner on May 18, 2011 21:23 (May 18, 2011 21:23)
During the silver age of arcade games back in the late 80s and early 90s it seemed that overnight all graphical, audio and processing limitations on sprite based 2-D games simply evaporated. Where only yesterday the sounds went “plinky plonky” and the graphics were paper cut-outs starved of animation frames, suddenly games were replete with massive, detailed, noisy, exploding, dynamic sprites filling the screen from top to bottom, left to right.
Of course, that wasn’t the case at all. It simply appears that way as I put a half-open up to my rose tinted electron microscope, but games like Armored Warriors encourage us to remember the breakthroughs as such instantaneous events. This game is to be found on the latter edge of the 2-D realm; teetering precariously while the world’s finest minds pondered the possibilities of that elusive third dimension. In retrospect, this was not the 2-D world’s finest hour – the sprite based game went out with more of a whimper than the bang it deserved.
It’s also possible that Armored Warriors could be one of those rare games which might actually be better served by a 3-D engine, but one way or another, the concept is rock solid. A mecha based beat-‘em-up is a genius idea that has seldom been explored.
The back story speaks of a successful ceasefire between Earth and the Principalities of Raia. One year on, the Raian capital is assailed by an enemy of unknown origin, and the United Earth Government decides to dispatch a team to eliminate this anonymous threat and rescue the citizens caught up in the rebellion. The real threat, however, is a secret plan by the Earth government to use this situation to bring Raia under their control. After that, it becomes a little unclear as to whose side you are actually fighting for, though this might be apparent upon completion of the game – I couldn’t say.
What’s important is the mecha under the player’s control. A couple of them are, if I’m honest, a bit lame. One reminds me of the awful Dr Zan from Streets Of Rage 3 while the other is reminiscent of a pimped out yellow submarine from the Beatles drug addled song. The other two, however, are exactly the kind of war-mongering power houses mecha are supposed to be, and are thusly armed to the teeth with automated malice. Naturally, with this being a beat-‘em-up, the use of firearms is quite rightly restricted; adopting the 90s trend for a limited amount of sufficiently underpowered guns so as to ensure fists and feet remain the weapon of choice.
Fighting takes place using the established “Final Fight” method of a well pounded attack button. This does highlight one small nag, which is perhaps a deliberate aspect of the game engine, but one which leaves a slightly metallic aftertaste for seasoned beat-‘em-up junkies. The characters feel to have a certain lag in their movements, making the whole experience feel a bit on the heavy side. As I say, this could well be deliberate (due to the fact that you’re supposed to be driving a fifteen-foot tall bipedal tank), but a tad more swiftness might have alleviated this small frustration.
Along the way, thwarted mechanoids will leave various accoutrements lying around for you to add to your own arsenal for a limited time, keeping the brawling varied and fanciful. Where Armored Warriors really comes into its own is during a multi-player bout (allowing up to three simultaneous players). The drop ship seen at the beginning of the level returns upon command to deliver a juggernaut chassis all three players can climb aboard to make one unstoppable behemoth mecha (kind of like the Power Rangers did, only with style). Each player commands an aspect of the mega-machine and the subsequent fury and destruction is a sight to behold!
Unfortunately, this is also the area where Armored Warriors falls a little short. Although mid-90s graphics were impressively large and sprite quantities seemingly unlimited, screen size wasn’t. There is actually too much going on to fit inside the diminutive resolution. The characters are wonderfully big and detailed, this is true, but they’re so crammed into the screen that for the most part, all you see is explosions and a virtual technological rugby scrum. Without a big, high resolution screen capable of extending the playing field to set this game free, its huge potential went sadly unrealised.
Massive lumbering war machines pummelling each other for all their worth is a sensational idea, though ultimately Armored Warriors is too big for its own screen.
