Game Reviews

Rocketron

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Rocketron

For some, the distinction between hardcore and casual games is simple: if you can complete it with a couple of buttons and no instructions, it's casual.

If you can't even beat the first level without 20 buttons and secondary functions, and without dipping into a War and Peace-sized manual, it's hardcore.

Rocketron defies this assumption completely, providing a brutally difficult gaming experience using a single function: a tap of the touchscreen.

Roll reversal

Rocketron is a rolling planet, hurtling through the galaxy at high speed along solid pathways, with precarious gaps, spikes, vanishing sections, and other nasties along the way.

A tap of the screen sends Rocketron upwards, onto the path above. By deftly manoeuvring between these two pathways you can work your way through all of the game's levels.

None of the levels is very long if you manage to complete it without slipping up. That's a ridiculously big 'if', though, as the pace of Rocketron combined with the constantly developing obstacles means you'll become a little too familiar with the cheerily incongruous 'fail' music.

Worlds collide. Frequently

As you begin to memorise the order of obstacles and track layout, muscle memory takes over and you begin to push through, despite yourself. It's a credit to the game's addictive qualities that no matter how often you fail the automatic response is to try again right away.

It looks stylish but simple, with different backdrops across the levels offering a nice bit of variety despite the sameyness of the gameplay.

The only quibble with the simple mechanics is that it sometimes feel like you've tapped the screen in time only for Rocketron ignore the input and plummet to his death. Switching to an Xperia Play gamepad seemed limit this from happening, which is worth bearing in mind if you own one.

Rocketron is limited, but addictive. If you can handle the constant sting of failure without throwing your handset against a wall, then it comes warmly recommended.

Rocketron

Easy on paper but brutally difficult when you actually try it, Rocketron is certainly addictive. Your mileage will depend on how you cope with restarting a level over and over again
Score
Alan Martin
Alan Martin
Having left the metropolitan paradise of Derby for the barren wasteland of London, Alan now produces flash games by day and reviews Android ones by night. It's safe to say he's really putting that English Literature degree to good use