HomeVideo GamesThe Otaku's Gaming Study #9b - Rock of Ages Review

The Otaku’s Gaming Study #9b – Rock of Ages Review

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The Otaku's Gaming Study #9b - Rock of Ages Review 1rockofages_screens_07

Rock of Ages
Ace Team | ATLUS USA
Now available on the Xbox Live Arcade, Playstation Network and on the PC. Some features may differ between platforms.

Rock of Ages is a unique merger of two genres – Tower Defense and competitive racing and despite a couple of minor issues results in one of the most memorable and unique digital download games I have played to date. Apparently throughout history – namely the five eras showcased in this game (Ancient Greek, Medieval, Renaissance, Rococo and Romanticism eras), it was customary for wars between men to be waged by inclined surfaces and giant moving boulders to crush the leader of the opposite team. There is nothing much in terms of storyline, but before each of the levels you are displayed with some rather witty, spontaneous and comedic cutscenes pertaining to your next foe which added a nice touch – most of which are rock related. You play as Sisyphus (Wikipedia) who after breaking down a door enters a portal to escape Hades and enter the land of the living in different time zones – now on a quest to take down everyone from The Plague to Leonardo Da Vinci, all of which are displayed in a very Monty Pythonish manner.

So how do you play this game? As mentioned above the game is a mix of tower strategy and competitive racing. The stages consist of two equal paths that start from the middle and head downwards through curves and upward inclines to the end for which you or your foe is hiding behind a fortified door. You must take control of a boulder for which you must circumnavigate your way through the path to knock down the enemies door – which takes several hits before your foe knocks down your own door. To add a lot more challenge, in between construction of the boulder you are given an increasing wealth of traps and hindrances you can place down on certain areas of the enemies path in order to stop them in their traps or even destroy their boulder. Such examples of these include castles which can be knocked down at the cost of speed, bombs to damage the boulder or even livestock which can knock a boulder off the course entirely. The game does not penalize one for falling off (And you will be doing it quite often in the later levels), however once again this is all attributed to speed. Throw in a couple of boss fights, numerous stages and characters as well as increasing number of creative traps at your disposal and you have yourself a rather enjoyable single player mode that may originally seem to be easy – but ends up getting quite difficult.

The game also includes several additional modes for those who want to step away from the main campaign. The Playstation 3 release contains a new mode “Obstacle Mode” where players compete head-to-head with a friend or AI opponent in a level filled with randomly placed defenses with the first to cross the finish line winning – out of all the inclusions this was the most enjoyable. The game also features a Time Trial where you endeavor to finish a level in the fastest time possible and Skeeball Training where knocking down structures and targets earn you points leading you to trying to get your ball into a hole on a skeeball board at the end of the level – this level however needed some refinement as it was too easy to guarantee a high score by taking things slowly then jumping up the ramp.

The levels are not all that realistic in design however are filled with comical environments and design features which if you take the time to admire them, are well designed with each era having a unique aesthetic. The same goes for character and “Rock” designs which match the comical and unique stylings of this game. This complements the music as well which while the voice acting may consist of mostly grunts, sound effects and background music work well with the atmosphere ACE Team have built within this release.

Overall, I was very impressed – especially with a game for its price tag.

Final Score
Storyline/Character Development: 
C
Design: 
A-
Music/Voice Acting: 
B
Gameplay: 
B+
Replayability: 
B+
Personal Opinion: 
B+
Overall Score: 
B+

Sam
Sam
Founder of The Otaku's Study. I have been exploring this labyrinth of fandom these last fifteen years, and still nowhere close to the exit yet. Probably searching for a long time to come.

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