Cyborg Arena, by John Ayliff
Cyborg Arena consists of a single totally badass cyberpunk gladiator fight, interspersed with cutscenes which tell the broader story. The fight itself is of a fairly classic rock-paper-scissors type, but with the added element of needing to balance effectiveness against panache if one wishes to stoke the audience’s enthusiasm - a big “if,” which indeed poses a personal, maybe even ethical dilemma and can have real consequences for how the fight pans out.
So, from a technical side, Cyborg Arena is very well put together. Short and simple to play, but with enough moving parts to keep it interesting and open up a surprising number of possibilities.
The cutscenes establish enough context to give emotional weight to the fight. The author covers the important stuff without wasting any time, and as a result, it actually feels like quite a lot of story is packed into this little fighting game.
The game is also (like all authentic cyberpunk, I would argue) a political commentary, although this aspect is handled with such flippancy that I’m not sure how seriously it is meant to be taken.
My primary criticism of the game is that it has a very abrupt ending. Setting aside the long-term consequences of the player’s actions, I’d be happy just to see the immediate consequences of the player’s actions; instead it cuts off so soon after the climactic moment that it is left quite unclear what will happen next. Earlier in the story, the player is teased that certain important events may be on the horizon, and I would have appreciated a final nod to this as well.