Nostalgia is a hell of a thing
I remember quite well what my initial impressions of the new Rocket Knight game were when the first screen shots were released. Everything looked chunkier, slower. It had a new race of enemies that resembled ninjas. I was turned off because it wasn't like what I had grown up with. It was not the genesis game I was looking for.
You see, Rocket Knight Adventures holds a special place in my heart. It is one of my quintessential games that absolutely positively must be played on the genesis. The feel of the platforming, the free flying, the nuance between hitting an enemy with the sword or hitting it the energy beam, riccocheting off multiple walls in order to out run preset hazards, It felt exact. The weight, the feeling behind every action taken felt fair, correct, precise. Right. Even the sequel which I liked less but still loved had that same precision, a new layer added by the advent of the drill burst. When compared to something like mario or sonic, lynchpin platformers of that era, there certainly wasn't anything that Rocket Knight or Sparkster did vastly different. But something about it, something about this game about opossums fighting back against an invading steampunk hog armada, traveling across countrysides, through mythical forests, along dilapidated railways, INTO SPACE, it felt good.
But when those screen shots were released, I was hestitant, and I placed the game in the back of my mind. Three days ago, I was reminded that the game had become available, and thus I purchased.
The first thing that struck me as I played was the music. The new arrange of the original theme sounded wonderful. It was brisk, clean, not many liberties had been taken to it. Upon pressing start to pause, the old school sounds of konami games from yesterday sparked through my mind, reminding me of all good times had with contra and metal slug. Even the sound of sparkster's jet pack sounded correct, not exact to the 16 bit days, but correct for a remake and a system that had more than 8 sound channels. It was promising. It was reassuring.
But something changed. The deeper I moved into the game, the more I felt something was wrong. It took me a good long time to really place my finger on it. And when I did, I was truly dismayed. That cleanness in the handling, the combat, the nuance, it was missing. What I was playing wasn't bad, not by any means. The controls in the game are more than acceptable, dare I say they are even rather tight. Combat, too, was perfectly serviceable. The change of linking sparkster's range weapon with his jet fuel makes sense, and allows the player more freedom when it comes to how to deal with combat. Even the Drill Burst returned, though in less useful form. It was all, okay.
The games bosses were varied and somewhat unique. I won't spoil anything but each of the game's 5 bosses all have various strategies that can be used for quick or safe defeat. Using the quick defeat will often unlock hard mode for the following levels. And as I finished each one, I could only think....how small. Each boss felt so tiny compared to the original game. But still, they weren't poor bosses. Each had a good design and provided a decent challenge. They were...pretty good. They were okay.
But only that. It was only just okay. I couldn't see past the greatness of the other games. The missing mechanics; using the actual blade of the sword to inflict extra damage upon massive bosses, catching the weakpoint of a certain object and ricocheting off at just the right angle where the blow back would cause massive damage to the enemy, having a plethora of different enemy types to combat, instead of only the 8 or so group found here, it was too much to overlook. But, without all that, without the things that made Rocket Knight Adventures special, this game still wasn't bad. It was...fine. Perfectly serviceable. Just fine.
When I went into this, I had grandiose images painted in my brain. I was expecting battles in dozens of different locals, massive bosses that would ahve to be chopped down bit by bit, challenging platforming puzzles that kept me on edge, things that genuinely suprised me as the older games did. What I got were 5 worlds, with the bizarrely unlockable chance to play through again on hard mode, that took me through a rather casual romp that lasted a little over an hour. On my journey I never saw anything truly amazing, in this story of wolves and opossums and hogs. What I saw wasn't bad. But it was underwhelming.
Now, there are many concessions that we could go through. Yes, this is a 15 dollar game while the older games were full price at the time. Yes this is just an XBLA game and isn't going full retail. Yes, they certainly could do another add on to make it longer and it would still be a great value. Yes, yes yes. But in the end, i'm not sure if that's what I want. It feels like, to me anyway, this game is missing the love found in the first few titles. It feels like a game that was hastily released in order to cash in on nostagia's sake, a game put out that misses the point.
But it's not bad.
I won't tell you not to buy this game. It's not a bad game. I can only implore you to do what I did after finishing this game. Find the original Rocket Knight Adventures. Put on hard mode. Play through it, and see. See the love that I saw so many years ago, the love that I feel when I pull out my PSP or DS or brush off my genesis and play through that wonderful title again. I truly do believe that it is a game that should be experienced by everyone, though I know at this point it is hard to find through honorable methods.
This is a biased review. When I started writing, I wanted to be imparshal, but found I simply couldn't because of what this series meant to me; what it means to me. I don't think this itteration is good. It is serviceable. But the love is not there. And because that love is missing, that attention to detail, that spark behind the story that is told without a single spoken word...I simply cannot endorse it.
But it's not bad.
It's just not Rocket Knight Adventures. And that makes me very sad.
3/5
