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This game is HARD. So hard in fact, that if you haven’t been raised by a family of mongooses and spent at least four years dodging cobra death strikes, you’ll boot this game up and promptly get your arse handed to you. This game makes Halo 2 on legendary difficulty look like the version of Pong they released for “special gamers” (the one where your paddle takes up all of the vertical pixels on the screen). Yes, Rockford is nigh on impossible, but therein lies its charm.
Essentially Rockford is a Boulder dash clone (officially licensed), but unlike the billions of unlicensed clone cousins out there, it is …well, good. For those of you living on the planet Mars, in a cave, with your fingers in your ears; Boulder dash involves navigating a maze, collecting jewels whilst avoiding certain death (and death was never more certain than in this game).
Rockford, as a game, excels far beyond its bastard brethren by way of its rapid paced gameplay, its despicable puzzles (which come at you hard and fast, thanks to a nasty time limit) and the fact that it was simply titled “Rockford” instead of “Boulderoid maze man in the crystal mines of Zaesgoth IV”. Rest assured, only an exceptional gamer with superior reflexes can hope to get very far here, because the frenetic pace coupled with nefariously designed levels make this game more like Boulder dash on acid, than anything else.
Speaking of drug induced; the graphics in this game are some of the brightest and way out I’ve seen in a long time. Rockford can choose from 5 different “themes”, whether it be Jungle, Chef, Cowboy, Spaceman and Doctor. Each one is colourfully presented and even the enemies/treasure are theme specific too (e.g. the chef gets chased by pizzas, collects apples, etc). The concept works well and keeps the visuals varied and interesting. My only concern with the colour schemes is that they can sometimes obscure the important info displayed at the top of the screen. So those of you who are colourblind may need to apply elsewhere.
Rockford’s theme music is extremely catchy and is interspersed all throughout the game. It features a gutsy guitar instrument that seems to have been used ad nauseam in many games of this era (I’m looking squarely at you Menace by DMA). Whenever you manage to kill a baddie they’ll explode with a satisfying “Crunch” sound effect, consequently its the same sample used when you die too (And die you shall, puny gamer), which makes it…less satisfying. Quite a paradox that.
This game has put me well on the way to early arthritis and I place it a very close second to the great Emerald Mine II. I challenge every gamer here to step up and test their “skillz” against Rockford. Oh and save states are for pansies, and as such, don’t count.
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Chock full of colour and varied. Unfortunately the sprites are a little smaller than most Boulder dash clones
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Intro music rocks. The ticking crescendo of the timer is great tension builder too.
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Stupidly difficult. Could have done with a multiplayer option to increase it's longevity. This is a game for someone who is looking for a challenge. That or a masochist....either one.
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Challenging, well presented and fun.
You could do much worse.
(Boulderoid maze man in the crystal mines of Zaesgoth IV) |
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