One of the best games of the early 1990s was Sierra/Dynamix’s Battledrome, which represented early robot arena combat. The player was able to ride in gigantic herculans (Human form-Emulation Robotic zed Combat Unit with Leg-Articulated Navigations, known for short as HERCs. Some of the best features of this game included the soundtrack, the weapon selection, and the design of the HERCs. The soundtrack for the game consisted of hard-hitting techno music which really put the player into the action, especially during a major firefight. The weapon selection was equally fascinating.
HERCs could be outfitted with mines, lasers, blasters, missiles, and plasma mines. One of the most intriguing features of Battledrome’s combat arena was the use of probes. Players could see their own HERC and their opponents’ HERC by using the various probes (players started out with one probe and could add as many as four). The design of the HERCs was well done (if primitive compared to modern three dimensional graphics). Solid colors mixed in with gray metal dominated the various shapes of the HERCs. Most of the HERCs were rather straightforward and very human-like. For a twelve or thirteen year old first exposure to three dimensional robotic combat, however, these HERCs were amazing to say the least. Furthermore, Battledrome was one of the earliest games
to provide a multiplayer internet feature, enabling players from across the country to play each other online, yet another pioneering feature in the early to mid 1990s.
In spite of these great features, the game did have substantial drawbacks. Freedom of movement was constrained. HERCs that were controlled by the players could only move forward and backward in straight lines. The cockpit could only turn 180 degree in each direction, not a whole 360 degrees, which made it difficult to target enemies in the arena combat. In contrast, the CPU opponent could walk diagonally, and could easily strike at the player from behind, a position from which the cockpit could not turn to defend. As has been emphasized by other reviewers, the single-player mode was not well organized. Rather than an intricate story-line or an effective campaign mode, an individual player seeking to fight against the computer, would be presented with a haphazard ranking list, where one could accept CPU challenges or issue challenges to CPU opponents. Finally, in the single player mode, there were some glitches in the game. Two of the most glaring of these glitches involved the terms of challenging an opponent and the quality of CPU intelligence. The single player mode was actually quite easy. When discussing terms such as money to be wagered or weapons that could or could not be used in a battle, it was very easy to provide the human controlled player with all the weapons, while leaving the computer controlled opponent with very little weapons. Furthermore, at the beginning of a battle, human controlled HERCs began with low shielding, so that an opponent could easily defeat players within the first minute.
Having seen the pros and the cons of this game, however, I highly recommend it as one of the most pioneering (albeit imperfect and flawed) games of the early to mid 1990s. This is a game that should be played by any true devotee of Sierra/Dynamix games of this period, and any aficionados of science-fiction/fantasy arena style combat games.
