Fascinating though exercise
Another early entry in the fighting robot genre, similar to Combots, P-Robots is an intriguing little title that is as much an exercise in programming as it is gaming skill, so if you fancy picking up a new language (or are an expert in PASCAL), you might want to take a look at this. The idea is based on an earlier game, C-Robots, which was the same concept but using the C language, whereas this one requires the use of PASCAL. The concept is simple enough and requires players to design and program their own little robot creation to take on computer programmed monsters in a battle to the death. You first have to write a procedure (in PASCAL) which defines yor robot's tactics and actions, in the hope that your design will allow it to triumph over up to three other robots in the arena. There are a bunch of pre-defined functions which allow your robot to keep track of its location and health and calculate firing distances, while the robots are all armed with missiles, with further options for bombs, repair kits, shields and different types of armour and warheads. In terms of visuals, P-Robots is understandably simplistic stuff, with very crude representations of the robots and little else, so if you're a graphics hound then there is little to interest you here. However, if the underlying mechanics of games design and programming interest you in an old-school way, then this is makes for a fascinating thought exercise with an entertaining outcome. For those of the correct mindset, the creation aspect is enthralling stuff and it is undeniably tense and exciting watching how your robot fares in battle, so if you are intrigued by what goes on under the hood, then spend some time with P-Robots.
