Rocket Knight Review
The Rocket Knight Adventures series has aged extremely well in almost every respect. I don’t know that I’ve ever heard someone say that they disliked the series, so it’s only natural that we’d eventually see another game in the series. It’s taken about 15 years, but in 2010 we’ve received a new game under the humbly abbreviated title, Rocket Knight. While Rocket Knight doesn’t quite capture the fairy tale-like magic of the originals, it’s a decent tribute, of sorts, to the series as a whole.
For those not familiar with the series, Rocket Knight, like the previous games, is a side-scrolling platformer starring a knighted, armored, rocket pack-wearing oppossum named Sparkster. Once again, the heroic but humble Sparkster must defend a kingdom under siege. The difference in aesthetic between this game and the previous entries in the series is immediately apparent. While the original games featured gorgeous, painterly 2D sprite work, Rocket Knight has less detailed 3D-rendered graphics. On starting the game, you’re greeted with an extremely generic GUI, and an unimaginative title screen. Things do get somewhat better from there. Rocket Knight is also lighter-hearted like an original Disney production. The original games were, at times, a little dark and bizarre, more like a Miyazaki film. It gave the game world of the originals more depth, and it seemed like they took themselves more seriously, regardless of how absurd the overall concept was. The music of the original games is also some of my favorite game music of all time. The fact that such a stirring and melodic score was being pulled from such simple hardware added to the dream-like experience. Rocket Knight‘s score is orchestral and alludes to the previous games, but it’s sedate and just doesn’t stand-out, save for a track or two.
Rocket Knight does, however, a decent job of recreating the basic gameplay concepts of the original games. Sparkster controlled a bit differently in each of the original games, and this game is no exception, but it works just fine. One of the best aspects of the original games was the ever-changing gameplay. Each stage had its own unique mechanic. Rocket Knight attempts this, and there’s some interesting concepts, but it seems the developers were either lacking in creativity or were just afraid to go too outside of the box. The collision detection never felt quite right, and in a platformer this is important. Still, I was able to beat the game fairly easily on normal mode. Rocket Knight is a little too easy, and hard mode needs to be unlocked on a per-stage basis. The game is also too short, I was able to beat it in about two hours. There’s not much to do after beating the game, except for some unlockable skins, hard mode, achievements, and trying to top leaderboard scores. For $14.99 USD (on Steam), there just isn’t enough game here.
Rocket Knight is a decent game. If you haven’t played the original games, seek them out. If you have, Rocket Knight will disappoint you. It’s worth noting that some younger children may enjoy the game, as it’s very light-hearted and not too difficult.
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Posted by
-Andy-
on May 26 2010. Filed under
PC,
Reviews.
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