8.0

Rochard
PC Steam & PSN

Recoil Games has a fun time with a gravity style game in the form of Rochard, a side scrolling space adventure that gives us simplistic design, though that’s part of its charms. In fact this charming game reminds me very much like some of LucasArts earlier works when they dared to be more creative than just Star Wars.
It’s pretty much paint by numbers style of game, it does not grab you by the throat or anything but it is so darn well fun.

Bringing a mix of side scroll shooting and puzzles to it Rochard, stars our hero, the every man, an average every day bloke out to make a living and thrown into circumstance. John Rochard is a space miner. He and his team are out searching asteroid fields for precious fuel elements for a corporation. Of course the teams luck of late has not been going so well. Of course they end up eventually finding something that makes them a target, enter intergalactic pirates and you have the fine mix for a side scrolling adventure romp.

If this where a movie, it would be termed a popcorn movie, one of those stories that has nothing really deep going for it, but it is a fun ride to forget your own troubles for a while.

The cool thing is players getting top play with gravity, in the form of a gravity gun. Using this piece of work equipment players manipulate objects in order to solve puzzles. Solving puzzles with anti grav device can become nail biting for those times that you must move a box or other item just right to proceed; thankfully the controls seem to be responsive and very tight. Very refreshing, I was prepared to be frustrated considering the controls are on the PC and not a game pad, but the controls are just ducky.

There are also times and certain areas that the player can turn off the gravity in an area in order for our hero to jump and bound unhindered, this is a fun perk to plat forming, though that does not mean to be successful you do not have to be spot on in your jumping and bounding. You still have to hit it just right to proceed.

Moving through the game there are several upgrades that can be equipped to the gravity tool. Later there are explosive attachments, and even a rock blaster.

The anti-gravity tool can be used for attack and defense, when the thugs come in shooting lasers, players can pick up a crate with the gravity tool and block the incoming fire. What is really cool also is that the tool can then be used for attack, launching the crate at an enemy and taking them out.

The puzzles in the game are simple, though that’s also the charm, players do not have to waste allot of time trying to figure out some massive mind boggle, while they are simple, they are just enough to be engaging.

The controls are pleasingly responsive and take no time at all to master, which is a good thing because there is plenty of platform jumping in this game. Finish indie studio Recoil Games brought their “A” game with Rochard. Lowering the gravity in an area with the press of a button and then bounding along into a jump is ever so satisfying. The game is a romping good adventure through this interstellar location filled with industrial drilling rig chambers, pressure pads, force fields, elevators and other sinking and rising platforms that requires the player to think a bit on how to get from A to B in most cases.

The overall atmosphere of the game seems to stumble ever so slightly with missed opportunities with the characters and story. The look and feel of the game makes it seem ideal for pithy one liners and comic relief here and there. You almost expect it from the character design alone, but Rochard alas misses this mark and seems to force serious dialogue into the mix. Sure there are some attempts at lightness, but it is over shadowed by the game dialogue trying to take itself very seriously. Is this a deal breaker or make the game any less fun? No, just an oddity that makes you scratch your head and wonder why.

When it comes down to it though Rochard is a short game well worth the download and adding to your gaming library, it made me smile, it made me think, it helped me get away from it all for a while, it is fun, and that my fellow Impulse Gamers, is what gaming is all about.

Have fun, play games.
Edwin Millheim