''Buck Rogers: Matrix Cubed'' is a

role-playing video game Role-playing video games, also known as CRPG (computer/console role-playing games), comprise a broad video game genre generally defined by a detailed story and character advancement (often through increasing characters' levels or other skills) ...

for

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few op ...

developed and published by

Strategic Simulations Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI) was a video game developer and publisher of over 100 games from its founding in 1979 to its dissolution in 1994 (though the brand was in use until around 2002). The company focused on computer wargames then lat ...

1992. It uses the

Gold Box ''Gold Box'' is a series of role-playing video games produced by Strategic Simulations from 1988 to 1992. The company acquired a license to produce games based on the ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'' role-playing game from TSR, Inc. These games ...

engine. The game takes place in the

Buck Rogers XXVC Buck Rogers XXVC (sometimes written as Buck Rogers in the 25th Century) is a game setting created by TSR, Inc. in the late 1980s. Products based on this setting include novels, graphic novels, a role-playing game (RPG), board game, and video ga ...

campaign setting A campaign setting is a setting for a tabletop role-playing game or wargame campaign. Most campaign settings are fictional worlds; however, some are historical or contemporary real-world locations. A '' campaign'' is a series of individual adve ...

. ''Matrix Cubed'' is a sequel to '' Countdown to Doomsday'' which came out in 1990.

Plot

The player's party is invited to attend the coronation of a new Sun King on Mercury. They also meet up with Dr Romney, who explains that he has discovered a way to create an incredible source of free energy, one that has the potential to rebuild Earth and challenge the power of RAM (Russo-American Mercantile). Buck asks the team to find Dr Coldor at Copernicus station on Luna (the Moon). The station is filled with corrupt officials, and a significant weapons manufacturer is also involved. RAM slavers are also operating in the area, giving the player another opportunity to test their skills. The team discovers that their ship has become sabotaged, filling it with radiation, and are forced to evacuate using escape pods. Although the launch kills most of the enemies facing them, Sid Refuge manages to leap on board and hang onto the back fin, where he is later picked up by PURGE (Prevention of Unwanted Research and Genetic Engineering) forces. The Amaltheans are the descendants of the original researchers that had developed the genetically engineered Stormriders to live in floating cities above Jupiter's turbulent storms. After infecting the genetic tanks with a gennie created by the Stormrider race as a punishment for enslaving them, they are taken to an orbiting gas mining platform deep within Jupiter's turbulent atmosphere. The Matrix Device is about to be ignited when RAM attacks along with an insane Sid Refuge who appears to seize the Device for PURGE. However, once they succeed by infecting the genetic tanks with a gennie developed by the Stormriders, Dr Makali agrees to assist them in building the Matrix Device. They take Makali to an orbiting gas mining platform deep within Jupiter's turbulent atmosphere. The scientists manage to activate the Matrix Device, thus, ensuring the resurrection of Earth and the eventual downfall of RAM.

Reception

SSI sold 38,086 copies of ''Matrix Cubed''. Scorpia of ''

Computer Gaming World ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American Video game journalism, computer game magazine that was published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 199 ...

'' in 1992 criticized SSI for, as it did with '' Eye of the Beholder'', giving the game an abrupt, anticlimactic ending. She concluded that "overall, ''Matrix Cubed'' is a disappointment. Aside from the horrible ending, the pieces just don't fit together as well as they should", and inferior to ''Countdown to Doomsday''. In 1993 the magazine stated that the game was "a disappointing sequel", advising those who were not a "real hard-core Rogers fan" to avoid it. The game was reviewed in 1992 in ''

Dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...

'' #182 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game 4 out of 5 stars.

Reviews

* ''

Zero 0 (zero) is a number representing an empty quantity. Adding (or subtracting) 0 to any number leaves that number unchanged; in mathematical terminology, 0 is the additive identity of the integers, rational numbers, real numbers, and compl ...

'' (May 1992) * ''Power Play'' (March 1992) * ''Amiga Joker'' (April 1992)

References

External links

* {{Gold Box games 1992 video games DOS games DOS-only games Gold Box Role-playing video games Single-player video games Strategic Simulations games Tactical role-playing video games Video games based on tabletop role-playing games Video games developed in the United States Video games scored by George Sanger Video games set in the 25th century Video games with gender-selectable protagonists Video games with oblique graphics Works based on Buck Rogers