Part Tower Defense, part Katamari Damacy, Atlus’ new roller, “Rock of Ages” scores big points for bringing back the type of gameplay that made KD such a huge hit. Tie in some comedic elements based on history and there’s little doubt that there’s an audience for this title.
A raucous difficulty will make it a bit harder to love the game however, as the lather, rinse, repeat style of gameplay manages to run thin after a few rolls down memory lane.
The object of the game is easy to understand. Roll and jump your rock down the path, avoid the enemies and their animals and obstacles and knock down the castle door of their leader. After the first few levels, new power ups and enemies are introduced into gameplay. While this spices things up incredibly, the game also gets painfully difficult.
Enough so that even the fun cut-scenes begin to annoy you. Animals in your home in the vicinity of your foot, beware. The game gets so difficult, they will fall prey to a kick in frustration. Simply put, it’s enough to make you stop playing.
Unlike KD, which had a great story with characters you could get easily attached to, “Rock of Ages” takes you on a voyage through time, where you fight everyone from King Leonidas to Vlad Tepes. But aside from different landscape and originally entertaining cut-scenes, little is done to bring these characters to life.
In the end, this is the game’s weakest point. With the actual gameplay being as close to KD as possible and an interesting assortment of obstacles to navigate around, this title had promise, but doesn’t deliver fully.
Without a solid story to latch on to, there isn’t much to rock to here.
The addition of a few more gameplay modes makes up for this somewhat, but with the meat of the game being in the single player conquest, casual gamers may get bowled over by the difficulty.
Had the difficulty been fine-tuned, perhaps “Rock of Ages” could have been more than a one-hit wonder. As it stands, its tune is an intriguing one, but lacks the charisma and comfort needed to induce hours of enjoyment.
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