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| The Entertainment Review |
| Genre: Action Publisher: THQ |
A lot of games grab players with a story line, others with a cast of colorful characters and yet others with sequels to previously popular games. When it comes to “Rocket Riot,” the latest Xbox Live Arcade game from
developer Codeglue and publisher THQ, the first thing that will grab the attention of many gamers is the amazing art style that the game has. The 8-bit inspired pixel art is very colorful and amazingly energetic, making
for an extremely flashy and modern game with a retro feel to it. However, once the visuals of the game have set in players will want to still stick around to enjoy the compelling game play that is offered. “Rocket Riot” is a
dual stick shooter game with game play similar to that of “Geometry Wars,” but it brings its own personality to the genre that has already seen many titles. The result is a fun and simple arcade shooter that can be
enjoyed in both a single player and multiplayer mode.
Players take on the role of a legless soldier who has a jet engine for a torso, whose story is told through a series of events that are explained during the introduction though it is still quite crazy. The left analog stick will
throw the players’ fighter around each level while the right stick aims and fires weapons. Instead of holding the right stick in the direction that players want to shoot, as many players may have gotten used to doing in
such games as “Geometry Wars,” players here will have to first aim their weapons and then let go of the stick in order to fire at the target. Players have an unlimited amount of ammunition and have some control over
how far each shot will go. It is a very inaccurate method of fighting that can get to be very frustrating at times, especially when there is a single enemy left in the level to defeat. However, “Rocket Riot” is a lot more about
the chaos of fighting than precision shooting and most of the time it isn’t a problem at all.
Many of the challenges in the game tend to be fairly straightforward death match style battles where players have to eliminate a specific amount of enemies in each level. Sometimes there are other, more particular
missions spread out throughout the entire game. Players are going to enjoy some hide and seek missions where they have to blast their way through objects in order to find an enemy that is hiding. There are also
football games, specific items to be destroyed and a number of boss battles for players to work through. The single player campaign is very well paced and varies the game play enough to keep players interested for
longer periods of time.
Scattered throughout every level are a number of power-ups. Some of these power-ups enhance the player’s offensive and defensive abilities, while some are actually harmful to the player. They are all color coded and
as long as the player pays attention they should be safe. Green items are offensive, blue are defensive, yellow provides a strange neutral effect and the red items are the ones the players want to steer clear of. There is
a lot of fun stuff to discover, such as making the player smaller and harder to hit while another speeds up the music in the game to give it a more comical feel.
At the end of each level players will get a detailed report on their progress. Many of the achievements in the game are based on these stats, such as getting 50 long shots or shooting 20 enemies in 60 seconds. There
are also extensive leader boards tracking each game mode.
Again, as stated before, the visuals in “Rocket Riot” is amazing. Players have a side view of the action, but all of the blocks are rendered in 3D and players will get to look around the corners of the blocks as the camera
pans around the screen. The environments are completely destructible so players are able to blast their way through anything that stands in their way. Each stage in the end becomes a mess of tiny blocks exploding all
around the player.
Other than the single player campaign, players are able to play an Endurance mode where players see how many waves of enemies they are able to survive through. When players are ready for some multiplayer, they
can play with up to three friends locally in three different variations, including a Deathmatch, Golden Guy and Co-op. Deathmatch and Co-op don’t need any clarification as to what they involve, but Golden Guy has
players try to wear the golden suit of armor for as long as they can. The catch to this mode is the fact that players are unable to fire while they are wearing it. Unfortunately for those players who don’t have the luxury of
having friends to play with, “Rocket Riot” doesn’t allow players to add bots to the mix, so game stick strictly to the number of human players playing the game.
When players move online they are able to play Deathmatch, Golden Guy and two additional competitive modes, Rugby Riot and Destroy the Object. Rugby Riot requires players to grab a ball and carry it through their
goal. Destroy the Object asks players to blast away their enemy’s item while defending their own item. “Rocket Riot” also supports systems link if players want to connect two or more Xbox 360 systems together.
“Rocket Riot” is a simple arcade game that has some amazing pixilated visuals. The destructible environments allow players a great amount of entertaining chaos in both the single player and multiplayer modes that
the game offers. In the end, this game has enough personality and charm to set it apart from other games of this type.
developer Codeglue and publisher THQ, the first thing that will grab the attention of many gamers is the amazing art style that the game has. The 8-bit inspired pixel art is very colorful and amazingly energetic, making
for an extremely flashy and modern game with a retro feel to it. However, once the visuals of the game have set in players will want to still stick around to enjoy the compelling game play that is offered. “Rocket Riot” is a
dual stick shooter game with game play similar to that of “Geometry Wars,” but it brings its own personality to the genre that has already seen many titles. The result is a fun and simple arcade shooter that can be
enjoyed in both a single player and multiplayer mode.
Players take on the role of a legless soldier who has a jet engine for a torso, whose story is told through a series of events that are explained during the introduction though it is still quite crazy. The left analog stick will
throw the players’ fighter around each level while the right stick aims and fires weapons. Instead of holding the right stick in the direction that players want to shoot, as many players may have gotten used to doing in
such games as “Geometry Wars,” players here will have to first aim their weapons and then let go of the stick in order to fire at the target. Players have an unlimited amount of ammunition and have some control over
how far each shot will go. It is a very inaccurate method of fighting that can get to be very frustrating at times, especially when there is a single enemy left in the level to defeat. However, “Rocket Riot” is a lot more about
the chaos of fighting than precision shooting and most of the time it isn’t a problem at all.
Many of the challenges in the game tend to be fairly straightforward death match style battles where players have to eliminate a specific amount of enemies in each level. Sometimes there are other, more particular
missions spread out throughout the entire game. Players are going to enjoy some hide and seek missions where they have to blast their way through objects in order to find an enemy that is hiding. There are also
football games, specific items to be destroyed and a number of boss battles for players to work through. The single player campaign is very well paced and varies the game play enough to keep players interested for
longer periods of time.
Scattered throughout every level are a number of power-ups. Some of these power-ups enhance the player’s offensive and defensive abilities, while some are actually harmful to the player. They are all color coded and
as long as the player pays attention they should be safe. Green items are offensive, blue are defensive, yellow provides a strange neutral effect and the red items are the ones the players want to steer clear of. There is
a lot of fun stuff to discover, such as making the player smaller and harder to hit while another speeds up the music in the game to give it a more comical feel.
At the end of each level players will get a detailed report on their progress. Many of the achievements in the game are based on these stats, such as getting 50 long shots or shooting 20 enemies in 60 seconds. There
are also extensive leader boards tracking each game mode.
Again, as stated before, the visuals in “Rocket Riot” is amazing. Players have a side view of the action, but all of the blocks are rendered in 3D and players will get to look around the corners of the blocks as the camera
pans around the screen. The environments are completely destructible so players are able to blast their way through anything that stands in their way. Each stage in the end becomes a mess of tiny blocks exploding all
around the player.
Other than the single player campaign, players are able to play an Endurance mode where players see how many waves of enemies they are able to survive through. When players are ready for some multiplayer, they
can play with up to three friends locally in three different variations, including a Deathmatch, Golden Guy and Co-op. Deathmatch and Co-op don’t need any clarification as to what they involve, but Golden Guy has
players try to wear the golden suit of armor for as long as they can. The catch to this mode is the fact that players are unable to fire while they are wearing it. Unfortunately for those players who don’t have the luxury of
having friends to play with, “Rocket Riot” doesn’t allow players to add bots to the mix, so game stick strictly to the number of human players playing the game.
When players move online they are able to play Deathmatch, Golden Guy and two additional competitive modes, Rugby Riot and Destroy the Object. Rugby Riot requires players to grab a ball and carry it through their
goal. Destroy the Object asks players to blast away their enemy’s item while defending their own item. “Rocket Riot” also supports systems link if players want to connect two or more Xbox 360 systems together.
“Rocket Riot” is a simple arcade game that has some amazing pixilated visuals. The destructible environments allow players a great amount of entertaining chaos in both the single player and multiplayer modes that
the game offers. In the end, this game has enough personality and charm to set it apart from other games of this type.
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