Review: Rocket Riot

What is clearly a flaccid narrative about a pirate named Blockbeard – presumably added as a technicality rather than any bona fide pursuit of masterful literary craftsmanship – lends itself rather pleasantly to a game that requires no such depth. Just by looking at Rocket Riot you can tell it's not going to be pushing any boundaries; the smart but humble visuals don't exactly denote a revolutionary gaming experience – quite the opposite.

The title says it all, really - Rocket Riot is a fast-paced, arcadey shoot-'em-up in which a daunting array of pirates, ninjas, zombies and even ice-cream cones battle it out with one-another using nothing but rocket launchers and jet packs that screw on to their posteriors.

Riotous

Combat is handled with nothing but your controller's thumb-sticks – the left to move your character around, the right to aim and fire your rockets by holding the desired direction then simply letting go - a longer hold producing a longer shot. The transparency and zero learning curve of the control scheme is admirable in a time where games frequently bombard the player with multiple context sensitive buttons across their entire controller. This is real pick-up-and-play territory.

The usual name of the game is simply killing a select amount of enemies, but the single-player campaign's 80 levels also include a couple of other modes and challenges in order to keep things fresh. You still couldn't play for hours, but they break things up a little: Firstly, there's Rugby Riot in which you have to deliver an American football through the goal a set amount of times whilst a handful of enemies try to stop you. Secondly, there's an 'object destroy' mode which, well, is pretty obvious. Every 10 levels you have to fight a boss character which is usually just a larger and stronger version of the normal guys. They're not always easy to defeat, but a successful strategy soon reveals itself.

Where Rocket Riot shines, though, is in multiplayer. Since the computer-controlled opponents, though competent, tend to be a tad clumsy when navigating a map and tracking you down, playing online or with a friend on a single console provides a far superior experience because you don't have to worry about them flying into walls quite so frequently, which greatly increases the game's speed and intensity.

Oldies But Goodies

Rocket Riot's visuals and sound are also a treat. With an 8-bit theme to the levels – all of which can be destroyed – there's little complication to the gameplay. It's all brightly coloured and covers an interesting array of locations, from computer motherboards to golf courses.

The audio shares the 8-bit theme with simple but catchy background music and sound effects. It can get pretty annoying as they're not the most diverse pieces of music you'll have ever heard, but the lyrics are quite amusing and, ultimately, they are quite well-suited to the style of the game.

Riot Laugh

If you're the type of gamer who wants depth and complexity to their games then Rocket Riot won't be to your liking, but if you fancy a great multiplayer game that demands no more of you than two functioning thumbs, you're sure to have a blast. It must be said that the game becomes painfully repetitive after an hour or so – even with the varying game modes – but in all fairness you can drop out whenever you want. That's the beauty of pick-up-and-play games.