Fun while it lasts...
Rocket Knight Adventures
Rocket Knight is a light-hearted romp of a game. It’s short and saccharine, but it isn’t a wimpy game. To the contrary, Rocket Knight is an old school game’s old school game. It’s a 2D-sidescroller game meant for multiple playthroughs and high score chasing on higher difficulty levels, and if you’re into that sort of thing then this game is for you. However, I’m more of a play once and get some satisfaction with few exceptions. That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy my time with Rocket Knight, but it’s only worth your time and money if you are going to play the game more than once. And while there are achievements to chase and new modes to unlock, you’re still just playing the game over again.
Rocket Knight is a game in the vein of Sonic the Hedgehog. You play as cute forest animal mascot #616 AKA Sparkster, named after the sparks that are made when he takes off in his jet pack? He’s really not a strong character in more ways than one. Plus, I’m not fond of possums. Anyway, the story is not this game’s strong suit. The gameplay fares a bit better, however, playing a lot like classic Sonic the Hedgehog. You run to the right (sometimes up and to the left) for most of the game and various enemies stand in the way of you completing the level. To defeat those enemies, you’ll need to use your rocket pack and sword. Because when you have the technology to make a jetpack your primary weapon shouldn’t be a gun, instead just take a sword that can’t hit enemies that can certainly hit you with their fancy rocket launchers and plasma pistols. Okay, it’s not that big a deal, you get a fairly short range fire attack and you can close on enemies pretty quickly with a dash attack; it’s not like you’ll be fighting wolves and pigs without any hope of defeating them.
Rocket Knight looks and sounds pretty good. It’s got a good art style that make up for any technical shortcomings. The music is jaunty and the sound effects are appropriately bombastic in a way that doesn’t annoy. I really liked how the pause button sound effect evokes that 16-bit era in a way that makes it seem fresh and new.
Rocket Knight is the game that Sonic fans have been waiting for. It’s fast, fun, and designed to practically play itself. That being said, it gets really frustrating when the momentum is stopped and you have to get it going again. Maybe less frustrating than Sonic, but not by much. Rocket Knight also has some issues with unfair boss fights that don’t spell out what you need to do. That’s fine, it’s meant to play like an old game and they’re never hard enough that you have to look up a guide. I just would’ve liked some clearer direction.
