Need for dough You get ahead in this game winning money by winning contests, which pit your brains against better machines. Then, you go back and spend the money to build meaner machines or to add new weapons to your original jalopy. Before you've won enough matches to have money to bet, you can win tournaments with cash prizes. After spending what you need to beef up your combat robot, you can bet some extra cash and challenge another machine to a match. This is still likely to be an uneven match because the robots available have many weapons, and the computer's artificial intelligence is no dope.
All matches occur in any of seven different diabolical arenas, studded with traps and hazards.
And this is just the single-player part of the game. You can also stage two-player matches over local networks or the Internet. The action takes place to the accompaniment of outbursts of maniacal cheers when one robot or the other is crippled. There also is an ample soundtrack of brain-thumping techno music that gets you into the mood to destroy something even if you can't get your homemade battle machine to move. Damage is one aspect to this sport that could have been better simulated.