One Must Fall: Battlegrounds Review - PC

Gameplay

One Must Fall: Battlegrounds features single-player and multiplayer modes. In the single-player mode you have to work your way through the Robot Arena Combat tournaments. Most of these tournaments are initially locked, and only open once you complete the unlocked tournaments available. In the multiplayer mode, you and up to six other players fight each other in the four gameplay modes: Last Man Standing, Last Team Standing, Demolition and Team Demolition. The first two are self-explanatory. Demolition and Team Demolition involves bonus points that are awarded to the players or team who inflict the most damage and take the least damage, forcing everyone to get into enjoyable brawls attempting to gain bonus points.

Fighting games have been taken to a new level by One Must Fall: Battlegrounds, being one of the first fighting games to be set in completely three-dimensional arenas with freedom of movement. These arenas come in a range of sizes but are usually quite big and most of them feature various traps to keep you on your toes. These traps include lava pits, spikes that protrude at various intervals from the edges of the arenas, and conveyor belts lined with razor blades that travel up the walls, encouraging you to stay in the centre of the arena. Items are also placed around arenas that replenish your health or enhance your abilities, and you'll also find objects such as balls of electricity that can be picked up and used as weapons. Most of the arenas are quite similar however, and actual levels, with ramps, multiple floors and the like, would've added more variety and replay value to the game, even if it meant more computer-controlled robots had to be added.

When beginning a new single-player or multiplayer game you must select a pilot and a robot. Each pilot is controlled by four governing attributes: power, agility, endurance and focus. These attributes consequently determine your robot's attributes as the robot is controlled by the pilot. There are eight robots to choose from, each looking vastly different from the last - some are bulky, some look sleek and agile - with different special attacks and various paint designs to choose from.

Instead of tournament battles consisting of only two robots against each other like other fighting games, they usually consist of three or more except in boss battles in which case it is only two. Before the battle begins, the computer-controlled characters usually have something to say to one of the others as they sometimes have rivalries between each other - but then again, others are friends, (continued next page)