One Must Fall: 2097

Game: One Must Fall: 2097
Developer: Epic MegaGames
Platform: PC
Release Year: 1994
Stephen's Rating: 8/10

One Must Fall: 2097 is a fighting game developed by Rob Elam and Epic MegaGames.

Basic Plot

The game revolves around the idea of giant robots battling in an arena for entertainment. Competitors brain's are hooked up to their robot so they can control them in the arena without sustaining real injury.

The plot of the single player games revolves around winning a tournament. There are 10 pre-built characters you can play in the game, each with unique strengths and weaknesses. Each character has their own backstory and reasons for competing. The ultimate goal is to fight your way to the finale and beat Major Kreissack.

Gameplay

There are two main types of gameplay. You can play the single or multiplayer game by selecting one of the pre-set characters and any robot of your choice. There are many levels of difficulty ranging from very easy to "Ultimate" including some secret battles which are unlockable on the hardest difficulty levels.

The other huge part of the game is the tournament mode. In this mode you get to create your own character. You start with a Jaguar with no upgrades at all, and no agility, strength, or defense. The objective is to compete in the four available tournaments, win games, buy upgrades, and eventually win the World Championship.

Tournament mode.

In tournament mode you are able to play sim's which are simulated fights which don't count toward the actual tournament. This allows you to test out your moves and your opponents before the real battle. You can also completely customise your bot or even purchase a different model once you have saved enough money.

Like any other fighting game One Must Fall: 2097 includes special moves. Each bot has many which are worth discovering. Additionally every bot has two finishing moves; a scrap which is the initial finishing move which usually involves smashing the opponent around a bit, and the destruction which is completed after a scrap and completely destroys your opponenent's bot.

Tournament mode offers special hidden fights if you successfully do a destruction on a particular opponent. Secret opponents include Jazz Jackrabbit among others, and sometimes will drop upgrades which you can install on your bot. These upgrades provide abilities you wouldn't normally obtain in the game (such as double or triple concussion cannon on a Jaguar).

There are 10 bots to choose from and one secret bot only used by Major Kreissack and in tournament mode:

• Jaguar: Standard agile bot, my personal favourite.
• Shadow: Can create "shadow" images of himself and project them around the arena.
• Thorn: Massive bulking bot with spikes to impale enemies.
• Pyros: Has flame jets to attack the enemy or fly around.
• Electra: Very fast electric bot made of crystals that can shock enemies.
• Katana: Has blades for arms, looks the coolest.
• Shredder: Can separate his hands from his arms to attack enemies from afar.
• Flail: Strange robot on wheels who has massive chains to attack enemies.
• Gargoyle: Can fly.
• Chronos: Can teleport around the map and freeze enemies.
• Nova: The secret bot. Is the only weaponised bot - huge, can fire missiles and grenades and do earthquake smash attacks on the ground.

Jaguar dong an overhead throw on an Electra.

Positives

Well polished fighting game with lots of options. Each bot is quite unique from the others and requires a different kind of playing style.

Tournament mode as well as the standard single player campaign (not to mention multiplayer) provides many hours of gameplay. I have re-played this game many times.

The secret challengers in tournament mode, the secret upgrades, secret difficulty levels as well as the "Fire" and "Ice" opponenets in single player mode all added to the game and added to the excitement.

Negatives

Weak story and characters for the most part. Never really bought into the world at all, it was more the gameplay and mechanics which drew me in. The characters were often cliche and there were some awful one liners before a fight.

Memorable Moments

At my peak I could run any tournament and 99% of the time I'd get a perfect round. I played Jaguar most of the time but also got skilled up as Shadow - although I found those games too slow and repetitive.

This was the first game I ever paid money for. I purchased it by mail and it arrived as a set of light blue 1.5 inch floppy disks. I got to try it out with the shareware version which piqued my interest.