Ultrabots (1993)(Electronic Arts) Game

Abandonware / DOS Games

Rating: 5/5

Gameplay consists of deploying a group of robots to an area and engaging enemy forces. Both sides will typically have a number of robots and a base to protect. Damaged robots can return to the base for repairs. As robots take damage they will become harder to control and use as various systems fail. There are three types of robots available in the game. Humanoid is the main fighting robot. It is the strongest robot available and can deliver and take the most damage. Scorpion is the infrastructure maintenance robot. It is slow, fragile, and weak in close combat, but it carries a single-shot missile (its scorpion stinging tail) that is the heaviest weapon in the game. Only Scorpions can lay down or dismantle the power grid. Scout is the fast agile robot used for recon. It is lightly armed but has the longest range when running on batteries, and is capable of laying mines. A unique feature of Ultrabots is the power grid consisting of microwave relays that extend power away from the base dome. Robots straying too far from the base dome or relays have to rely on their batteries only, which don't last long and don't offer enough range to reach the enemy base. Much of strategy in the game relies on the power infrastructure, with Scorpions extending lines of relays toward the enemy that Scouts discover far from grid, under protection of Humanoids, to prepare a full attack on the enemy base.