Uprising X was a game released exclusively on the PlayStation in 1998. It is a sort of hybrid first person shooter, tank simulator and real time strategy game. This combination of genres makes it relatively unique but it also made it a hard sell.
The plot of the game is just a thinly veiled excuse to blow stuff up but that isn’t really a problem. This isn’t really a story driven game. You get to control a futuristic tank armed with weapons such as lasers and guided missiles. In addition to controlling the tank, you can also call for any available reinfocements when needed such as infantry, more tanks or aircraft. While driving your tank around, you must search for good places to build on. In each location you build, you will first construct a large building with a turret on top. Once this is build you can enter the turret and control the gun or build other structures and factories.
Uprising X also offers a split screen two-player mode with three types of games: challenge, death match and seige. The first two are about killing the other player directly while the last one involves protecting your base from enemy assault.
Uprising X was actually a sequel to Uprising, a Windows game, and offered the same genre combination. While Uprising got mostly positive reviews, it didn’t sell as well as they would indicate. Part of the problem was that gamers just didn’t really know what kind of game to expect. While the combination of genres made for a unique and interesting game, RTS fans would often be turned off by the action or action fans by the strategy aspects. Despite selling below expectations, Uprising X followed. Other than another sequel on the PC (Uprising 2) and despite critical acclaim, there have been no further games in the series nor have there been any remakes. However, if you are a fan of either or both genres, this is a series worth giving a shot. All three games in the series are good but Uprising X is the only one of them to be released on a console.
The ad above is from the February 1999 issue of The Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine and the screen shot are from Moby Games.
