On the far-off planet of Quintenix, an inventor's son and protege finds himself right in the middle of a war. As it turns out, a rogue band of pirates called Hackers are hell-bent on stirring up trouble. Our hero is no warrior, however. He swings no sword or staff, but he does have an uncanny ability to build robots. Yes, the gimmick with Robotrek from Enix is that you send in a triad of robotic allies to fight battles on your behalf. One takes the battlefield at a time, and when it is vanquished, another can join the fray. Each can be programmed and customized as you wish, with a variety of special attacks and equipped with the weapon of your choosing.

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It is a unique twist on the traditional RPG formula. Even die-hard fans of the genre have been searching for a title to deviate from the FF II formula. Robotrek strives to be as different as possible, occasionally to its detriment. Though we were big fans of the core gameplay, other aspects of the cart fell flat. The sprites are a bit small for our tastes, the gray-on-gray UI is downright ugly, and the soundtrack is forgettable. Do not start up this one expecting a mature, adrenaline-pumping masterpiece. Enix sought out to make a fun and lighthearted adventure, at least judging from the Japanese title: Slapstick. To their credit, they absolutely succeeded.

Printed in Issue #23, March 1995