Virtual On: Oratorio Vangram

Reviewed by:
Ryan Boyce

Anyone who woke up early on Saturday mornings in the late ’70s and early ’80s to catch those big, robotic goliaths of Japanese cartoons will no doubt leap at the chance to lead them into metal-crunching battle—which is precisely the concept behind Virtual On. Unfortunately, the big lugs don’t translate all that well.

Virtual On is like a robotic Ultimate Fighting championship: Two robots square off against each other in a small 3-D arena where nothing is off-limits. The goal is to pummel your opponent into scrap metal. Guns, swords, missiles, punches, and kicks are all part of the repertoire, but it takes a skilled triggerman to make use of them all.

Easier said than done. The arcade game used two joysticks for controls, and squeezing that scheme into a Dreamcast pad makes piloting these robots an awkward business. So unless you’re a glutton for punishment, stick to the cartoons when you want your fill of Rock ’em, Sock ’em Robots. Virtual On is a definite turn-off.

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