Rock It, Man
Constructible card game becomes downloadable PS3 offering with Rocketmen: Axis of Evil. We go hands-on.
Published: April 13, 2007
If one style of game has emerged as the predominant downloadable experience on the PlayStation Network, it's been the 360 degree independent move/shooter. Blast Factor did it, Monster Madness looks like it'll be doing it with lots o' pretty physics, it's entirely possible nobody asked Cash Guns Chaos to do it but it did anyway, and now Rocketmen is doing it too.
The difference here is that Rocketmen is actually based on a constructible card game, and extends a little bit of that customization to the players. Using the WhizKids CCG as a template, you're able to craft a male or female Mercurian, Human or Venusian in Engineer, Outcast and Fighter flavors all to do battle in classic pew-pew fashion against the endless laser onslaught of Legion of Terra. It's not just different skins on the same characters, though; particular races and classes have natural affinities like more health or better weapons, and your created character actually appears as you made them in the game's ultra-simplistic cartoon-style cutscenes.
Add in drop-in, drop-out online and offline multiplayer for up to for friends and you've got a simple but modestly deep arcade shooting experience that goes a little more in-depth than, say, SmashTV. We only got the chance to play through a single level at Capcom's Spring Gamer's Day with a couple of other fellow journos, but almost immediately we were able to appreciate the game's generous pick-up system that allowed for upgrades to the base stats and abilities or, as we saw in a very real sense, a plethora of creative secondary weapons.
The usual goodies are here; room-clearing mega-blast, rockets, auto-turret and all can be picked up and stored for use later. Far more powerful main weapons with limited ammo were available too, but the folks we were playing with kept scooping them up before we could, so we didn't get to enjoy some delicious chaingunny goodness. Still, the fact that you could walk up and drop in at any time was a nice touch.
"Nice" is probably the best way to put the game. It was obvious rather early, and though there was some creativity in some of the weapons, the general speed of the game was a little on the sluggish side. Considering it's a relatively simple downloadable title and has until Summer to get gussied up with a few more fancy effects (the game already runs at 1080i and sports an impressive number of enemies and simultaneous shots, but this is supposed to be a next-gen game). We'll definitely be keeping an eye on this one to see how it turns out. Updates if we get 'em.
The difference here is that Rocketmen is actually based on a constructible card game, and extends a little bit of that customization to the players. Using the WhizKids CCG as a template, you're able to craft a male or female Mercurian, Human or Venusian in Engineer, Outcast and Fighter flavors all to do battle in classic pew-pew fashion against the endless laser onslaught of Legion of Terra. It's not just different skins on the same characters, though; particular races and classes have natural affinities like more health or better weapons, and your created character actually appears as you made them in the game's ultra-simplistic cartoon-style cutscenes.
Add in drop-in, drop-out online and offline multiplayer for up to for friends and you've got a simple but modestly deep arcade shooting experience that goes a little more in-depth than, say, SmashTV. We only got the chance to play through a single level at Capcom's Spring Gamer's Day with a couple of other fellow journos, but almost immediately we were able to appreciate the game's generous pick-up system that allowed for upgrades to the base stats and abilities or, as we saw in a very real sense, a plethora of creative secondary weapons.
The usual goodies are here; room-clearing mega-blast, rockets, auto-turret and all can be picked up and stored for use later. Far more powerful main weapons with limited ammo were available too, but the folks we were playing with kept scooping them up before we could, so we didn't get to enjoy some delicious chaingunny goodness. Still, the fact that you could walk up and drop in at any time was a nice touch.
"Nice" is probably the best way to put the game. It was obvious rather early, and though there was some creativity in some of the weapons, the general speed of the game was a little on the sluggish side. Considering it's a relatively simple downloadable title and has until Summer to get gussied up with a few more fancy effects (the game already runs at 1080i and sports an impressive number of enemies and simultaneous shots, but this is supposed to be a next-gen game). We'll definitely be keeping an eye on this one to see how it turns out. Updates if we get 'em.