Rise 2: Resurrection

Rise 2: Resurrection
File:Rise 2 cover.jpg European PlayStation cover art
Developer(s)	Mirage
Publisher(s)	Acclaim Entertainment
Distributor(s)	Ingram Entertainment
Platforms	PlayStation, Saturn, PC
Release date(s)	PC Saturn PlayStation
Genre(s)	Fighting

Rise 2: Resurrection is a computer game developed by Mirage Media and published by Acclaim Entertainment in 1996. The game is a sequel to Rise of the Robots, and improves on the first game's graphics, rendering and animation; hits now give off metal scraps and electrical arcs progressively run over the bodies of damaged robots.

The in-game music features hard-rock themed music by Tom Grimshaw at Mirage, and a theme by Queen's guitarist Brian May entitled "Cyborg".

Story

The cyborg Coton from the previous game defeated his opponents and faced the Supervisor, who used her morphing ability to defeat him and assimilate him into her own consciousness.

Coton's thought patterns were cloned and used to bolster the artificial intelligence of the Supervisor, who also used fragments of his conscious in selected robots to imbue them with the ability to improve upon their own design.

Electrocorp scientists, fearing that Coton had been defeated and that the Supervisor would now target the city, prepared a counter-virus based on EGO from the information Coton had earlier sent them. The Anarchy Virus was released to the main building of Electrocorp, and it infected most of the robots previously under Supervisor's control - the robots waged war against each other, disconnecting from the neuronet, quickly depleting the numbers of the Supervisor's army.

Coton used the distraction caused by the malfunctioning robots to upload his consciousness to another robot, and prepared to either escape the Electrocorp building, or to attempt another attack on the Supervisor.

At this point the story ends, and it is left open-ended -and dependent on the players ability- whether Coton is successful in either attempt.

Gameplay

Unlike its predecessor, Resurrection allows the players to control any robot, both in one and two-player mode. Also, players can choose from 256 different palette rotations for each robot. There are five different types of projectiles available to each robot.

The game features a far broader fighting experience than its predecessor. Each robot has its own original moves, Mortal Kombat-inspired death moves, the ability to steal and use a defeated robot projectile, and a devastating super move that can be used when the power bar is full, similar to other fighting games of the time. The game also features a combo counter system, named Chaos. The controls are standard for a fighting game, and non-humanoïd robots adapt their moves to the punch/kick model.

In one-player mode the player faces each robot in its own rendered and raytraced stage, while two-player mode allows the player to either choose the stage or to leave it at random. Each stage is graphically tuned to its corresponding robot, and some stages feature traps that players can use to gain an advantage against their opponent. The traps also tend to match their owner robot's characteristics: as the stage for Steppenwolf, the gun-wielding robot, features a trap that fires bullets, and the stage for Vandal, the saw-wielding robot, features a trap with a saw.

Characters

The game features eighteen standard characters, plus ten hidden characters. The hidden characters tend to be stronger than the other ones, and some are very easy to unlock while others are much harder. Eight of the hidden characters are clones of the standard characters with similar moves and different graphics.

The seven robots (including the hidden character Supervisor) of the original game return with new graphics and moves, and aside from the original Rook, all have an offspring modified robot. All robots also get one projectile they can use from a distance, and all five projectiles have a different range, speed and reach.

• Cyborg and NecroBorg - The Cyborg now wields a plasma projectile. NecroBorg is the military-class version of the Cyborg with a different color scheme, armor, a weaponry backpack, and wields lightning.
• Loader and Lockjaw - Loader is updated to use its powerful arms to a better extent and wields guns. Lockjaw is its military-class version with explosives.
• Prime-8 and Griller - Prime-8, the gorilla-like builder robot, uses its huge arms, strong build, shield, and deadly strength, but is slow. Griller, its military-class version, is smaller, faster, and uses flamethrowers.
• Crusher and Vandal - Crusher is an insect-like robot with large pincers to crush metal and now wields acid. Its Supervisor-modified version is Vandal, with a reduced size but improved mobility and circular saws instead of pincers.
• War and Salvo - War is the low-grade, high-number military-class robot of Electrocorp. It trades high agility for low power, with guns as projectile weapon. Its flame-wielding Supervisor-modified version is a plain green color named Salvo.
• Rook - The red, tall sentry droid can now use its jetpack to improve its agility through the stage and fire plasma bolts.
• V1-Hyper - This robot shares its form with the original Supervisor's feminine figure, with the addition of a whip-like ponytail. V1-Hyper is unable to shapechange like the Supervisor.
• Detain and Deadlift - All-new robots are all-around, humanoid fighters.
• Suikwan and Steppenwolf - Heavy robots with powerful weapons. Suikwan looks like a samurai, complete with kabuto and great katana, while Steppenwolf is likened to a tank, with heavy armor and guns.
• Chromax and Insane - Chromax floats a few centimeters above the ground. It is a humanoid robot and can detach its head to hit its opponent. Insane uses two baseball bats and has an alien or reptilian style of construction.

Hidden characters

The Supervisor is playable as a hidden character. Mayhem is a huge robot and unbalanced brown robot with extremely powerful moves and a funky stage on top of a huge electric guitar. The remaining eight hidden characters are clones of standard characters, with generally increased power and sometimes a different projectile but the same basic moves as their model. They however have quite different graphics. Anil-8 is an ant-like clone of NecroBorg; Assault is a yellow, smaller version of Rook and Sane a glowing white one; Suppressor is a Suikwan clone; Vitriol is a Steppenwolf clone with some elements taken from Deadlift; Ard One is a tank-like version of Lockjaw; Naden is a yellow clone of V1-Hyper and Rack is a Deadlift clone. The director's cut features pictures of them and they are listed in the game files alongside the others.

While in one-player mode, the player fights the hidden characters in order if not defeated for several rounds in a row. Rack and Naden have special requirements to be fulfilled to battle against them in one-player mode; the player must get a double flawless victory and then use an Execution (death move) against Deadlift and V1-Hyper respectively.

Supervisor, Vitriol, Mayhem, Anil-8 and Assault are all unlockable secret characters.

The director's cut version features 2 additional hidden characters; Sheepman and Bunneyrabbit.

Reception

Rise 2: Resurrection was met with generally negative reviews. IGN gave the PlayStation version 2/10, declaring that "The original 16-bit Rise Of The Robots was possibly one of the worst fighters ever made. That is, until Rise 2 was released." They cited the game's poor controls and outdated graphics as reasons for this statement. GameSpot gave the PC version a 5.1/10, saying that the graphics, music, sound effects, variety of characters, and overall atmosphere of the game are all excellent, but that the moves are awkward and difficult to perform, making the game no more than "an expensive screensaver".

External links

• Rise 2: Resurrection at MobyGames