Lego Rock Raiders

"Actually quite good!"

This is a Lego game, so when I got it I thought it was going to not be very good. But, it's actually quite fun to play.

Graphics: 6/10

They are OK, but not outstanding. Sometimes, the objects end up going halfway through walls. The actual things, though look OK in the game and good in the cutscenes. Graphics have never mattered much, though.

Story: 7/10

Another 'OK' category. The Rock raiders were exploring space in their ship, when it was suddenly pulled into a wormhole! The Rock raiders found themselves on a strange planet with their ship broken. They decided to go deep under the planet to find sources of energy for their ship. It's OK, but nothing amazing.

Gameplay: 9/10

This is the factor that has pulled the score up. Basically, there are two main items: Energy Crystals and Ore. They are used for building things, and there are lots of things to build with lots of variety. To find them, you must drill down walls. You also have an amount of air in a level. The more Rock Raiders there are working on a level, the faster the air goes down. you run out of air - GAME OVER. The over you can end the game is to lose all of your rock raiders. They have a shield, which can be damaged by things such as avalanches, and monsters. The Rock Raiders are very interactive. As they work, their energy goes down, so you have to boost it by feeding them. They can be given names and trained for jobs, for example if you train one as a Driver he can operate vehicles. Vehicles are by far the best part of this game, however. It feels good to smash down a wall in two seconds with a huge Chrome Crusher. More powerful vehicles will need more Energy Crystals and Ore, however. There are enemies too, like Rock Monsters. To beat them, you must get the rock raiders to fire lasers at them. To complete the levels, you must find a set amount of Energy Crystals and bring them back to your Storage Station. There is much more I could go into, but I think I've spent too long on one category...

Music: 6/10

It's not anything special. Most of the time you won't notice the music, because you will be concentrating on the great gameplay. There's nothing annoying, but not anything particularly good, either.

Difficulty: 8/10

The game seems easy on the first few levels. It isn't long before you get onto levels where there are enemies. Enemies are very hard in this game. Rock Monsters aren't much of a problem, but Ice and Lava monsters - especially Lava monsters are EXTREMELY annoying. The worst enemies of all, though, are the Slimy Slugs. These are slugs that feed on Energy Crystals, and they never truly die. You will probably hate them for life on the second-to-last level, where you need to collect 45 Energy Crystals with Slimy Slugs all over the place.

Lifespan: 7/10

Because of the difficulty for this game, it will take you a long time to complete this game. If you subtract the difficulty, however, there are a disappointing number of levels with no extra things to do. The game tries to lengthen it by letting you get a Perfect score on each level, but I never got much fun out of that. The levels are huge and you can try to explore the whole thing. Sometimes little secrets can be found in the level, such as about 30 Energy Crystals in a remote cavern off the main path. The lifespan is satisfactory and is not a problem.

Pros and Cons

Pros:
- A wonderful gameplay system
- The story is quite original

Cons
- Most things are just average
- A little too hard
- Didn't take advantage of the Lego theme

OVERALL: 8/10 (Good)

This game is an unexpected little surprise, but due to its unpopularity, it has not sold well. They even stopped making the Rock Raider lego models...

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/24/06