Uprising X

by Air Hendrix
January 01, 2000 00:00 AM PST

All told, Uprising X's interesting blend of action and strategy pushes the game above its other serious flaws. It ranks a great weekend rental for most gamers and a decent purchase for those who really get stoked by multiplayer action.

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Uprising X, 3DO�s engaging new combat/strategy game, gets a lot of things right and a lot of things wrong. Fortunately, the game succeeds at what matters most--controls, frame rate, and gameplay--which pulls it past its pitfalls in graphics and sounds.

Star Wars
No one actually cares about the story line in action-packed titles like this, and what�s really most intriguing about Uprising X anyway is its gameplay, which combines first-person mayhem with a bit of Command & Conquer�s real-time strategy. As the commander of a wraith (basically, a mega tank), you can unleash some pretty awesome firepower on the enemy, including missiles and energy weapons.

Beyond getting knee-deep in combat, you can also teleport in units (tanks, infantry, bombers, and AAVs). To create those units, you must briefly build factories by establishing a base, called a citadel. The resource management�s thankfully kept to a breezy bare minimum, and the resulting gameplay�s pretty cool--it�s a thinking-man�s bloodbath as you sometimes whup ass personally and sometimes provide covering fire while your units take the heat.

The 14 single-player missions can be wrapped up fairly quickly, so two-player split-screen deathmatches are what this game�s about. Uprising X offers five cool multiplayer modes ranging from a regular Deathmatch to a hilarious competition to see who can run over the most infantry with their tanks. Intuitive analog control means that your wraith and citadel handle responsively, but if you�re stuck with a regular controller, it�s a chore.

Foggy Bottom
Visually, Uprising X�s graphics are like trying to get a tan on a San Francisco beach: There�s too much damn fog! It unfairly cloaks enemies, it makes it easy to get lost, and it�s just plain lame. Fortunately, the frame rate rocks at a wickedly fast pace, and the landscape, tanks, bombers, and the like look fairly slick.

As for sounds, the weak, corny voices will make you leap straight into gameplay as fast as you can. The cool sounds of combat and the decent tunes prevent you from diving for the Mute button, though.

X Factor
All told, Uprising X�s interesting blend of action and strategy pushes the game above its other serious flaws. It ranks as a great weekend rental for most gamers and a decent purchase for those who really get stoked by multiplayer action.