570th played so far
Genre: Shoot ‘Em Up
Platform: Arcade
Year of Release: 1983
Developer: Dave Theurer
Publisher: Atari
Isaac Asimov is an amazing speculative fiction writer (I know that sounds pretentious, but it works best to describe his work). I, Robot is one of his collections of short stories, an amazing read that I really loved.
As far as I can tell, the title is pretty much the only thing this game shares with that work. It might be intended to reference it, but I’m not sure why the shooter would be what it is.
Our Thoughts
I, Robot is an interesting shooter, more complex than those that have come before. 3D is still in the early stages at this point, so a game that makes use of it to the extent that this game does – moving left and right as well as forwards and backwards was pretty good. It really works for this game, creating an early idea of the on rails shooter while still giving you a lot of mobility, especially with the slight puzzle elements.
Your goal is mostly to shoot your target in the distance, while changing the colour of tiles so you can proceed. As an old game, this is mostly trial and error, but it feels like it’s mostly intuitive. I never actually struggled with it. It’s pretty straight forward, which makes the different look more effective. You can play through, get it quickly and proceed in the game.
As simple as that is, it’s quite addictive and fun to play. It also drags in more difficult situations quite soon, the levels are that challenging. Luckliy the debug modes made it more forgiving, but if that doesn’t work a drawing minigame is also included which is at least a bit lest challenging…
Final Thoughts
I, Robot is a good twist on the concept that feels like a clear predecessor to later game, bt also works well on its own. The more puzzley elements are certainly different, but they probably make the game worth it, to make it more than just a standard shooter.