BlueSmoke - Preview : One Must Fall : Battlegrounds - Updated

		Date	: Sept 17th, 2002
		Genre	: Action
		Developer	: Tri Synergy
		Author	: Jin-Ning Tioh

A long time ago, back in the good old nineties, a robotic fighting game was released. Incorporating the best factors of Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter, as well as spicing it up with even better features, OMF 2097 was a two-dimensional scroller - With players attempting to shake the nuts and bolts loose out of the opposing robot with a multitude of combos and attacks. As you might recall, we delved into the history of the One Must Fall series some time ago. Recently however, we managed to bag ourselves a copy of the latest beta for One Must Fall : Battlegrounds. In this eagerly anticipated sequel, robotic gladiatorial combat is bigger and better than ever, making the switch from 2D to 3D flawlessly...

For now, at least eight robots have been confirmed for release. Some of the classics will be making a return, including the Jaguar, Katana, Pyros, Chronos and Gargoyle. Newer models will also be making an appearance, with the gravity-manipulating Force, highly-armed Warlord and kung-fu wielding Mantis. So far, we have had the chance to mess around with the Jaguar, Force, Pyros and most recently, Warlord. Pyros is a hot little number, utilizing his flame throwers to toast all in his path, perform fire spins and fling fire balls at opponents. Jaguar prefers to blast away with his concussion cannon and lasers, fling opponents with overhead throws and leap towards his opponents, slashing away with claws. Force however, harnesses the power of gravity, bringing down airborne opponents with gravity wells, causing destruction with meteor showers and flinging Vortex and Bomb charges at his enemies. Warlord is simply put, a walking armory with pincers, maces, as well as rocket and grenade launchers built into both arms.

Roughly around fifty pilots will be available to players, each with their own attributes, flaws and history. Several veteran pilots will return, including Steffan, Christian, Milano, Jean-Paul, Raven, Angel, Crystal and Steel Claw. New additions to the pilot roster such as Judgement, Logan, Maelstrom, Li-Megui, Nick Sollace and Professor will attempt to bring the veterans of the sport crashing down to their metal-clad knees. Some interesting additions can also be seen, such as Flipper 8000 - A dolphin connected with what appears to be brain implants. Regardless, each pilot is rated in four categories - Focus, agility, strength and endurance. These attributes will affect the way your bot is handled and even which bot you should use to maximize your potential. Endurance determines how much of a pounding you can take before blacking out for a short period of time. Strength helps you dish out the damage in bigger quantities. Agility will enable you to outmaneuver your slower, less agile opponents. And finally, focus affects the rate at which your energy builds up, though the team is toying with the idea of allowing it to affect the potential of "energy" based attacks, like improving projectiles seeking strength and damage.

Several items have also been added to help spice things up. In the desert arena, several glowing energy nodes can be used to replenish a bot's energy stores, allowing for more powerful special moves and combos. These are known as super attacks. Basically enhanced versions of their "normal" counterparts, super attacks can wreck havoc in the arena when used properly. Usually when a super attack is used on an opponent who is low on health, they will burst into a fiery explosion of twisted metal parts and circuits, bagging you a lot more points than usual. Also placed in strategic areas are signals for air strikes, miniature nukes to be flung at opponents and then some.

At least ten arenas have also been planned, with more likely to be released in the final version. These include the Blade Pit, Canyon, City, Desert, Iceberg, Power Plant, Space Station, Volcano and Pharaoh's Fire. The beta came along with the Blade Pit, Canyon, Desert, Iceberg and Pharaoh's Fire. Like its name sake, the Blade Pit is a tightly-packed combat zone, with pikes impaling competitors every once in a while. The Iceberg features a spinning disc in the center surrounded by platforms and cold icy water. The Jaguar has an advantage here, flinging its opponents into the water with a well placed overhead throw. Canyon features two ramps surrounded by well-placed energy nodes and turrets. Pharaoh's Fire has a small central platform surrounded by several smaller rings and a sandy minefield. The desert features pyramids and a wide space for players to smash each other into oblivion.

While changes may still take place, the game's current interface is fairly well-done. The bottom left corner of the screen showcases your pilot of choice, with statistics and chosen team shown. The bottom right corner shows your "targeted" opponent, also with statistics and team being shown. At the bottom center, your bot's health, energy and stun is shown. To the top left corner, the scores for both the first and second players are shown.

While still in development, the team has not definitely not forgotten its fan base. Creative players are free to create custom pilots or even paint jobs, though creating the later is much harder. All the personality settings for pilots will be easily adjustable, with stackable scripts to adjust AI reactions. It should also be relatively easy for people to script their own single player ladder tournaments. For the level designers, support for 3DStudio Max has already been added, with planned support for GMax.

Multiplayer plays a crucial role here, with eight or more players able to fill expansive arenas with the screeching of metal clashing against metal. This holds even more true, with the removal of the RPG styled robot / pilot upgrade system found in the tournament mode for the original OMF 2097. However, plans are already being made to release it at a later date as either a fan MOD or an add-on. For now, several game types are available, such as demolition, team demolition, last man standing and last team standing. Reputedly, some sort of "sports-based" games will also be added, with one of them rumored to be a variation of American Football.

With a completely in-house designed engine, the OMF series has made a smooth transition into the realm of 3D, with both the arenas and robots being fairly detailed and varied. Unfortunately, the payoff is that not all the robots from the original made the switch to 3D, as some robots such as Flail and Shadow simply couldn't be modeled or would have taken far too much effort to pursue. However, the freedom allowed by the truly 3D environment, unlike some of the primarily side-on experience of recent games, quickly overcomes any such regrets. And with a promising soundtrack adding in some nice beats, OMF promises untold hours of metal-bashing entertainment.

It's certainly been quite a while since a decent beat-em-up was released on the PC, and this one is all about laying down the smack with a multitude of attacks and combos. Due by the first quarter of 2003, check back here for more updates as we keep tabs on this promising title. For now, check out these sweet screenshots we took from the latest beta build.