Reviewed: June 14, 2003
Reviewed by: Tyler Whitney
Publisher
Big City Games
Developer
Revistronic
Released: May 20, 2003
Genre: Action
Players: 1
ESRB: Teen
5
5
4
4
4.5
System Requirements
Budget games-blech. These kinds of games make me cringe while visions of “BeachHead 2000” and it’s mindless combat runs through my head. Ugh. But like the infamous saying from “Vanilla Sky” you can’t know the sweet without a little sour. So here we go… Rocko's Quest comes to us from Big City Games, a budget-game focused branch of Strategy First, massive developer of such titles like O.R.B., Robin Hood, Sudden Strike and the recent Legion: Gold. Big City Game’s titles will range in price from $9.99-$29.99 MSRP and can be found in retailers across the country including Electronics Boutique, Best Buy, Wal-Mart and others.
It was developed by Spain-based Revistronic, who have made 5 games to date including Rocko’s Quest which is actually called “Grouch” on their website. Good idea someone changed the name. I haven’t had that much experience with these kind of games, I’m more of a shooter/sports guy, but I have played games like “Rune” and "Ghost’s and Goblins”, both contain many parallels such as the platforming and hack ‘n slash combat, but the genre just doesn’t do it for me.
The basic premise is this: You must rescue your girlfriend. You’re a dolt with large muscles-voila, we got ourselves a storyline! There doesn’t seem to be any reference to time, land or any other setting, just some typical fantasy land full of rock-chucking goblins, armor clad knights and heroic men like Rocko. He can leap, tiptoe, run and roll through mountains, swamps and cemeteries. He can grab ledges, hop upon moving platforms and trigger switches with a mighty kick to open new areas of adventure. Oh boy oh boy!
Something that struck me as odd- besides of course that Rocko doesn’t seem to realize he’s only wearing a loincloth and some boots- is the rating. TEEN ?? No blood, no cussing, hmmm… why pray tell is it teen? Games like Medal of Honor and Enter the Matrix are rated teen because they are filled with blood and guns, but a title filled with cartoony violence, no blood and no offensive language whatsoever, is teen? Sure beats me…maybe it is because of the half-naked Rocko-maybe that bulge isn’t a spiked mace.
You’re greeted by a sparse menu system with options to turn the music down, up or off (choose wisely), key mapping, and the option to invert your mouse is supported so rest easy for you inverted-loving gamers out there. There is no insta save game feature, i.e. pressing F7 will not save at any point. The only places to save are after each level, while warp checkpoints are interspersed throughout the level, so you don’t have to start at the beginning each time.
Annoying deaths from fire- any touch incinerates you- and water are annoying, Hmm there is a thorn covered log I’ll just leap right over-*Rocko’s death cry which is drowned out by the much louder cry of frustration from Tyler (reviewer people- wake up). Ironically though, you can survive a direct hit to the noggin from a man-sized boulder; Rocko just shakes his head and continues on his way. I guess they weren’t kidding when they said he has no brains.
The camera is done in a 3rd person “Tombraider style”. But there are no adjustable camera options that were so useful in the latter game. This presents a problem when you are trying to fight and navigate the land and cannot tell exactly where you are standing.
As far as combat goes, it is pretty boring. When in combat, a red bar represents the enemy’s health and gives you an indication of when to stop pummeling your opponent. Enemies include mace carrying armored knight, Ogres, and rock-chucking goblins to name a few. The enemy AI includes dodging moves and lunge attacks, all of which are easily dodged. Most of the time you should just run past these guys, because combat becomes monotonous soon.
Seems to be a lot of swinging and missing too, either the enemy is evading or there is some kind of collision detection problem. Either way, it’s frustrating attacking an enemy when half of your strikes miss. Enemies crawl around pathetically clawing and scratching at you, a la Resident Evil’s zombies. But in this game there is no quick head stomp. Rather, you must maneuver around the fallen enemy at just the right angle for the killing blow. No blocking or parrying either for Rocko, although the enemy creatures appear to be able to block.
Equipment wise, you can wield swords, spiked maces, bow and arrows; all of which can be scavenged off defeated foes. Unfortunately, you cannot salvage shields from dead bodies, but it doesn’t matter anyway as you cannot parry or block. Power ups include health, power (increases damage inflicted) and gold, all of which are found lying around the map and after you slay an enemy.
Rocko’s Quest resembles a bloodless, lighter-hearted “Rune". Heck, “Rune” came out in Fall 2000 and it slaughters this game with better graphics, better combat and better storyline. Plus Vikings are way cooler than some random half-naked nincompoop. “Rune” even had multiplayer support.
This game can be run in all your standard resolutions and can be set for RGB emulation, Direct 3D HAL and Direct 3D T&l. I used Direct 3D T&L as it was the only one I had heard of before. The environments are similar (the trees especially) to “Firearms”, a mod for Half-life; these ugly plants are blocky and pixilated. These pitiful trees would surely be outcasts from their brethren in Lord of the Rings- there’s not a doubt in my ADD afflicted brain. The sky is nothing but haze, no stars no moon, just this fogginess that comes in red, orange and green.
The animation is fairly fluid for the low poly count and characters are drawn simplistically, but they look goofy and lifeless. Lighting is done well, with shimmering swords, blazing torches and dark caverns. Clothing is composed with texturless detail, just a few scraps of material pasted on their bodies.
Also, for some reason this game reminded me of the graphics we used to see on the Playstation, a little rough, unrealistic terrain, pixilated cut-scenes etc. If this game came out on that system in, say ’97, then it would have scored well graphically, but now they look outdated and crude. However, for anyone with modest system specs, this game should run smoothly.
Anomaly and glitch wise, there is a bit of clipping with characters, especially when your enemies are crawling on the ground, they will sink back and forth into the land. I also was blinded several times by the inside of cavern walls when I ran into them, not a good thing when you are trying to dodge giant pulverizing mallets while leaping over chasms.
I had to eventually turn off the main in-game music. It had an annoying building crescendo, kinda like insane circus music. As far as voices go, Rocko’s grunts are plentiful as well as his enemies’ death cries, and there are lots of clanging, thwacking and related combat noises, all of which seem generic and sound muted.
Are you a patient person with competent platforming skills? If so then you will be able to play through most of this game in…umm, that’s right I didn’t beat the game, and there is no mentioning of number of levels in the manual. But I surmised that it will take at least 8-10hrs to finish it. There is no multiplayer support, so once you beat it and rescue your woman, then it’s off to the game store to trade it back in- maybe for Rune if your lucky.
As I said before, I’m not a fan of budget games, they still cost money (Rocko is $20) and take my time, precious time I could spend playing quality non-budget games. I fell into a habit once where I bought a whole bunch of those “50 song greatest hits” 6 CD sets for $10 bucks. This, I thought, was some deal. Well, it sounded like they were mixed in some guys garage, and I then realized the age old adage that quantity does not equal quality, and that’s what we have with this game. A cheaper price brings a cheapened experience.