Buck Rogers: Matrix Cubed
Sequel to Countdown to Doomsday, set in the Buck Rogers XXVC universe.
Buck Rogers: Matrix Cubed, a role-playing game for MS-DOS, was both developed and published by Strategic Simulations in 1992. It runs on the Gold Box engine and is set within the Buck Rogers XXVC campaign setting. This title is the follow-up to Countdown to Doomsday, released in 1990.
The player’s party is summoned to Mars for the coronation of a new Sun King. There, they meet Dr. Makali, who reveals a method for generating free energy that could restore Earth and undermine the Russo-American Mercantile (RAM). Buck tasks the team with locating Dr. Colder at Copernicus station on the Moon. This station is rife with corrupt officials and tied to a major weapons manufacturer, while RAM slavers operate nearby. After discovering their ship has been sabotaged with radiation, the party escapes in pods, killing most enemies in the process. Sid Refuge, however, clings to a pod’s back fin and is later captured by PURGE forces.
The Amaltheans, descendants of the original researchers who created the genetically engineered Stormriders as slaves, infect the genetic tanks with a gennie developed by the Amaltheans as punishment for enslavement. The party is taken to an orbiting gas mining platform within Jupiter’s atmosphere. As the Matrix Device is about to be ignited, RAM attacks. Sid Refuge appears later, trying to seize the device for PURGE. After the team successfully infects the tanks, Dr. Makali agrees to help build the Matrix Device. They bring Makali to the platform, where the scientists activate the device, ensuring Earth’s restoration and RAM’s eventual downfall.
SSI sold 38,086 copies of Matrix Cubed. In 1992, Scorpia of *Computer Gaming World* criticized the abrupt, anticlimactic ending, similar to *Eye of the Beholder*, and concluded the game was a disappointment with poorly fitting pieces, inferior to its predecessor. In 1993, the same magazine called it a disappointing sequel, advising only hard-core Rogers fans to play it. The Lessers reviewed it in *Dragon* #182 in 1992, giving it 4 out of 5 stars.
Quick Facts
- Title
- Buck Rogers: Matrix Cubed
- Developer
- Strategic Simulations
- Designer
- Rhonda Van
- Programmer
- Russell Brown
- Artist
- Tom Wahl
- Composer
- George Sanger
- Series
- Gold Box
- Released
- 1992
- Genre
- Role-playing
- Modes
- Single-player
- Platforms
- MS-DOS
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
The Amaltheans are descendants of original researchers who developed genetically engineered Stormriders as slaves. After infecting genetic tanks with a gennie created by the Amaltheans as punishment for enslaving them, the party is taken to an orbiting gas mining platform deep within Jupiter's atmosphere. The Matrix Device is about to be ignited when RAM attacks. Sid Refuge appears later, trying to seize the Device for PURGE. After infecting the genetic tanks with the Amalthean gennie, Dr. Makali agrees to assist in building the Matrix Device. They take Makali to the gas mining platform, where scientists activate the Matrix Device, ensuring the resurrection of Earth and the eventual downfall of RAM.
Reader's Guide
Buck Rogers: Matrix Cubed is significant as a late entry in the Gold Box series of role-playing games, continuing the Buck Rogers XXVC campaign setting. Its reception was mixed: Scorpia of Computer Gaming World in 1992 criticized the abrupt, anticlimactic ending and found the game overall disappointing and inferior to Countdown to Doomsday. In 1993, the same magazine called it 'a disappointing sequel' and advised only hard-core Rogers fans to play it. However, the game was reviewed in Dragon #182 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser, who gave it 4 out of 5 stars. SSI sold 38,086 copies of Matrix Cubed. The game's legacy is that of a flawed but notable continuation of the Buck Rogers video game series, remembered for its ambitious plot involving free energy, genetic engineering, and the Matrix Device, but criticized for its execution and ending.
Did You Know?
- The game uses the Gold Box engine.
- Scorpia of Computer Gaming World criticized the game for having an abrupt, anticlimactic ending.
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