The exceedingly simple gameplay and wonderful pixel graphics make for a delightful adventure as a rocket pirate.
Rocket Riot will no doubt take you by surprise. The dual-stick shooter draws you in with its eye-catching visuals and keeps them busy as you progress through tons of levels fighting the good fight, shooting all kinds of rocket-based weaponry at the people floating in your way. See, you play a legless pirate who upon meeting a professor, conjures up a plan to strap a jet engine to his torso granting the old man some mobility. It’s a recipe certain for success.
WHAT YOU’LL LIKE:
Eccentric visuals
While 8-bit graphics hardly make games exciting to look at, Rocket Riot does just the opposite. Almost like an overview of a candy store, each level is crafted with varied, colorful backgrounds and obstacles that can be blown apart by your rockets, creating a frenzied flurry of pixels and color. Everything regenerates too, so the beautiful destruction never stops. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a game with such flair and style, and when paired with the hectic gameplay is one of the most visually rewarding games on the XBLA.
It gets crazy in a pixelated world
Clever, fun gameplay
Having a jet engine strapped to your back means movement is limitless in Rocket Riot–the destructible levels allow you to go anywhere at any time. Controls are simple, with the left stick directing your movement and the right stick directing your aim. It’s not a simple point-and-shoot affair though, firstly you have to aim your shot by pushing forward on the stick and then release for the weapon to fire. The more you hold forward, the further your shot goes. Saying that, your shot doesn’t go directly to its destination, it begins to arc after a while and you will need to adjust your aim as such when going for long distance attacks. Happily, it’s a simple mechanic and that when performed correctly—and it won’t take long to—feels just as right as it should.
Each of the 80 single player levels vary between killing a set number of enemies, digging into the blocks to find hidden characters, chipping away at huge structures or grabbing a football and taking it to a set of goalposts to score a point. To help you along the way, Rocket Riot offers a bunch of power-ups including bigger rockets, faster rockets, a trio of rockets shot at once and defensive items such as a shield and reduced character size. There are also bosses at set intervals to make sure you’re not slacking off.
Although Rocket Riot certainly won’t win any awards for setting a gameplay benchmark, the movement and point-and-shoot system is so easily accessible and fluid that it creates a truly satisfying experience.
Frantic muitlplayer
Rocket Riot features the standard deathmatch game type along with a couple of irregular modes. These include Golden Guy, where you try to steal and wear a golden suit for the longest time possible, Destroy the Object which is exactly what it sounds like, and finally Rugby Riot. Following in the footsteps of the single player mode, the aim is to score the most goals as a team. Each one cannot help but be downright fun, particularly Rugby Riot.
Winning is always well-deserved in Rocket Riot
WHAT YOU WON’T LIKE:
Sooner or later…
The single player becomes samey after a while and most of the levels tend to double back on themselves towards the latter stages of the game. Killing an ever-increasing amount of enemies gets tedious after 50 levels or so, and the restart system can be pretty brutal.
RECOMMENDATION:
Rocket Riot doesn’t do much wrong. Gameplay is electric and the visuals are fantastic–the overall experience is solid. There are a ton of characters to use and the multiplayer is very fun in each of the modes. Depending on how you decide to play Rocket Riot though, it may eventually become tiresome. Nevertheless, for something energetic and fun to play over the summer, look no further than THQ’s sweet-looking shooter.
Rocket Riot
Systems: Xbox Live Arcade
Developer: Codeglue
Publisher: THQ
Find: Xbox Live Marketplace
All reviews are based on final retail code unless otherwise noted.
Want to know more about the game? Just ask! We love to hear ourselves type, and might even say something vaguely resembling an answer to your question(s)…
June 20th, 2009 at 3:27 am
I totally would have passed over this one if not for your recommendation, but it actually is very fun and unique. Too bad it doesn’t seem anyone else is giving it a chance…
June 20th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
I can’t believe you didn’t mention the awesome soundtrack. There’s a variety of good tunes and they’re fun and original. Am I the only one here who truly likes game music?, and I don’t mean licensed music either. Other than that, you summoned up the game very well.