Escape from the Planet of the Robot Monsters is a very fun, action-packed isometric sci-fi shooter for 1 or 2 players.  It is brilliantly designed to empty kids' pockets of quarters at a rapid rate while never feeling unfair.  There is an epic feel to playing through the game's many levels as new dangers are steadily introduced.  Most importantly, there is a feeling of silly fun throughout that makes this a planet of robot monsters worth escaping. 

Escape from the Planet of the Robot Monsters seems to be inspired by old science fiction movies, as the heroes look like all-american football players and the bad guys look like people in boxy robot suits.

As the opening movie describes, you have been selected as a member of an interplanetary swat team.  The robot monsters have run amok and enslaved the humans of this once-peaceful planet and forced them to wear skimpy rags and work tirelessly.  Your mission is to touch the slaves to transport them back to the mothership, to destroy all robots, destroy the evil reptilons (the aliens behind all the mischief) and to find and rescue professor Sarah Bellum. 

The game is broken up into short isometric levels where you are primarily tasked with not dying as you face huge numbers of robots who lurch at you like speedy zombies while also dodging bullets from better-armed baddies.  You must often perform a task such as throwing a switch to allow you to continue.  You can up your score by blowing up all the machinery, rescuing slaves, you can up your life by collecting food, you can increase your ray gun's power by collecting gems dropped by fallen foes, and you can destroy all nearby baddies by detonating a bomb at your feet, or you can save them up to use against the evil reptilons in the game's boss battles.  Levels are never too long that you are left wondering how you are doing, at the end of the level it tallies up how many slaves you rescued and shows your overall progress on the map.  In addition to boss battles, levels are broken up by cybersled canal races which give you the opportunity to choose from 3 different paths, adding to the game's depth and replay value. 

The graphics are great as everything is tied together with a consistent, cartoony graphical style. Never will you wonder what it is that is trying to kill you, or lament that its presentation distracts you from the action.  The choice to have the game at an isometric perspective works perfectly as it does not suffer from the awkward melee combat of some isometric games, the hero can spin at many angles while blasting repeatedly ensuring that you will not have undue difficulties targeting your foes with your ray gun. 

The music is zany and fun if a bit repetitive.  The game gets extra kudos for the great sound effects and the use of voice to give tips (e.g. "tap jump to speed up!"). 
 
Addiction-wise, this game scored high.  Not only is it constantly challenging you with unending waves of undeadish robo killers, but you can bring a friend along for the ride coop style. 

Think of escape from the planet of the robot monsters as a similar experience to Zombies Ate My Neighbors, but there is a greater focus on crazy, fast action and less of a need for exploration, backtracking, etc.  If that's what you and your 2nd player are in the mood for you will not be disappointed!

great review , well i remember playing this game back then , its was a great game and the last time played the game like 7 years ago .

supercool22 :

Thank you !!  If you are feeling nostalgic and want to try it the experience is improved with an analog joystick/gamepad though keyboard/digital control works too you just might die a little faster! 

Very good review. It has length and plenty of detail. Nice work.

This will probably be the next game I try on here. It sounds pretty good. Thanks for the tip!

Nice review! You provided lots of detail and spaced everything nicely with perfect grammar. I've never really heard of this game before. Maybe I'll try it, cause you think it's a pretty good game.
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