Rocketmen: Axis of Evil
Added March 31st, 2008 by Slunks
Top-down dual analog oriented shooters are Xbox Live Arcade's bread and butter. We've seen titles of all sorts land a spot in the library: Assault Heroes, Smash TV, Geometry Wars--the list could build a road across the country and includes games that only slightly differentiate themselves from one another. Rocketmen: Axis of Evil adds to the menu, as it includes familiar instances that we've seen many times over, yet throws a unique and goofy style on top of it. With an extensive library overpopulating the old-school genre, does this axis meet both ends to shine?
Action hero Nick Sion and the mentally fit Alec Mink have a passion for roaming a hunk of metal in the solar system. Through them, you're guided on a generic path to save the universe from the invading Martian Legion of Terra. A gravity gun that creates black holes has been developed by this tyrannical race and your team is the one force to stop it. The story isn't exactly captivating and proves to be more than loose during certain parts, but the way it’s presented can be humorous. Cut scenes are cel-shaded 3D comic strips, and although its cartoon style feels as if it’s missing a few key sound effects, it fits the game's atmosphere well. The pairing dialogue can often times be funny in a silly way with Nick's smart-witted remarks, Alec's counteracting intelligence, and your character's desire to be the hero. Creating and maintaining your character is surprisingly one of the best features of the game. You may decide on your gender, race, class, color, and more. From there you can adjust statistics such as speed, damage, demolition, engineering, evasion and life. These all start out low but gradually increase as you spend experience points obtained from killing baddies. It's interesting to watch your character grow over time.
Although the presentation and customization abilities are well done, the gameplay doesn't hold up to wishful standards. You're pitted into a classic, top-down roaming aspect with a key set of objectives to complete. Of course, the game holds your hand as it pans the camera in a set direction that you'll follow. There are alternate paths that you may take to discover rewards or complete secondary objectives. Either way, the terribly timed camera movement is one of Rocketmen's worst issues. Moving out from the bottom quarter of the screen will immediately begin traveling the view, usually pushing out wanted items and pushing in unwanted enemies. Unless the camera is temporarily fixed in place during a certain instance, this seems to happen incredibly too often. Because of this, you'll not only miss out on many items that are required to raise your statistics, but valuable weapons as well. On the go, you're able to pick up weapons that have an infinite amount of ammo and last for fifteen seconds. You can also upgrade these ballistics with a separate currency acquired from enemies and containers.
From shotguns to laser rifles, there's a decent selection that keeps killing somewhat refreshing, but once the timer runs out you'll be set back to your vastly under powered pistol. Despite the camera issues, everything seems about right for Rocketmen. However, because of the stop-and-go pace, there's one key element missing that the genre is so sought out for: frantic craziness. With the exception of some well-designed boss battles, there are only a few spots where you may feel truly overwhelmed by meathead Martians, and even then it's easy to pick up a weapon and blast them away with ease. The campaign may appear long with a ten-mission lineup. Unfortunately the majority of levels last less than fifteen minutes long. Some admittedly feel like fillers, too. There is a fine setup of gameplay and story, but it's hard to find it executed cleanly. For eight hundred Microsoft points, there's only a mild amount of fun to be found in the gameplay--even in the most diehard heart. Although, if you're looking for a diffrent style and humorous approach to the genre, you'll find the charming presentation to hold the entertaining value with Rocketmen: Axis of Evil somewhat steady.
