Rock 'n Rage

"Music is the weapon!"

The first time I played Rock'n'Rage was back in summer of 1992, on the ferry Jens Kofoed between Ystad (Sweden) and Roenne (Denmark) when the game had been out for six years. The story was incredibly simple (lame!). During a rock concert, a cloud appears and out of the cloud comes a giant blue hand that captures the female singer!! And another two members of the band jump into the cloud to rescue her!!

OK, the story is lousy, but back in 1986, the game stories weren't all that great anyway...

Rock'n'Rage is a kind of Zelda similar game, where you fight bad guys with your guitar or microphone. Get a powerup and you could fire off a note at your enemies...hahaha!! Ahem...Zelda game...don't get too enthusiastic now. It is not like that you could buy any weapons or anything. But you can walk in any direction you like, and find your way through (the game is a bit like a maze,sometimes it is a bit tricky to find your way out) as you smash enemies and collect your powerups.

Graphics - 6 points
Konami 1986. I'm well aware of that the graphic wasn't all that great back then, but the players only have two animation frames each, and that is certainly not enough! Specially not since there is no animation frame for standing still (idling). If the running animation frame is displayed where you only have one leg to the ground, and you would stop, well, then it means that you indeed will stand still on that leg until that you decide to move further...! The players walk in a very stupid way (Monty Python would like it OTOH). Backgrounds and enemies are standard to be 1986. Nothing to be impressed about, in other words.

Sound - 7 points
The music and sound isn't very smashing either, but work pretty fine. The music is influenced by the 70s, but there are also some music hits from the 80s played from time to time in the game such as ''Like a Virgin'' and ''Born in the USA''.

Control - 9 points
Except that the player perhaps could move a bit faster, there is nothing to complain about the control. You can walk in all 8 directions just fine and as you press the button, you will indeed attack.

Challenge - 10 points / 2 points
This game is way too hard. The stages are huge, and it is often very difficult to figure out where to go, since every stage is more or less a maze. Enemies reappear, if you leave an area and go back, the enemies are back as well. The bosses are rather tough as well. Have a lot of quarters prepared if you intend to play through this game...!

Fun Factor - 5 points
The game gets boring pretty early in the game. Hit new enemies and find your may through new mazes and collect an item or two. But to compensate this a bit, a tiny bit of humor is added to the game. For example, you could meet Napoleon (and actually collect HIM) and gain powerups while the national hymn of France is played! That's a funny feature and there are other things as well that lift the game slightly from its boredom. But it is somewhat not quite enough...

Repeat value - 2 points
No, this is not a game you would play through more than once, if you would do it at all. The game is overall too boring, and the graphic could have been a little bit better. There is nothing really unique about this game. Just another platform game from the mid 80's.

Don't bother.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 02/23/04