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If you've ever drooled at the thought of piloting a 42-foot mech robot and being able to lay waste to cities and foes alike, the developers at Eclipse have just made your dreams come true. In Iron Soldier, you get to take control of a gigantic killing machine through sixteen different missions in attempt to help the resistance regain control of Earth from the evil Iron Fist Corporation. Along the way, players will stomp around the landscape destroying everything in sight while collecting more powerful weapons, ammunition and health credits. After each mission, you get a choice of what to take with you from among the list of things you've acquired for your next mission. You'll sometimes run out of ammo, but that's when the fun really beings. Just sit back and enjoy the pure Rampage-esque joy of stomping on enemy tanks and punching helicopters out of the air.

All of this is viewed in a realistic first-person perspective, and when controlling the machine, you'll feel it. Movement is slow and ponderous just like you'd expect of a huge, mechanized robot. It might feel sluggish at first, but the sense of reality is actually quite refreshing. Everything is drawn in polygons with a touch of texture mapping and gourad shading evident in some of the enemies and objects. Everything is quite blocky, but no less detailed than any other console game to date that incorporates a polygon graphics engine. On the plus side, the developers have chosen smooth action and decent framerates over graphical detail, and gameplay benefits as a result.

Iron Soldier is just plain, good old-fashined destruction wrapped up in a polished package that features graphics and sound that is unparalleled by other console games of its genre.


Title Iron Soldier
Publisher Atari
System Atari Jaguar
Graphics 8
Sound 7
Gameplay 9
Overall 9
Reviewer Keita Iida