Pocky & Rocky

"The best game you never heard of"

So, you never heard of Pocky & Rocky, eh? Well, that's not surprising, considering that almost no one has. Shame though, this game deserves much more attention than it got. If the game hadn't been so cutesy looking, then I'm guessing a lot more people would have played it and it very well might have become a classic.

In the game, you can choose from two characters- Pocky, a girl whose weapon is none other than cards, or Rocky, who throws leaves, and who was apparently a tanooki in the Japanese game(A tanooki is some good luck creature that can turn to stone in Japanese culture). In the English version, they changed him to a raccoon. It makes sense, it just seems kind of strange that a raccoon can turn to stone- although, I suppose when a game lets you kill monsters in a by throwing cards at them, it also expects you to chuck logic out the window.

You see the action from above, and you move around throwing your weapon at enemies. Shooting a basket or killing a group of floating fireballs gets you a powerup, which either restores health, powers up your weapon, gives you a shield, or gives you a bomb which damages all enemies on the screen. You also have two defensive moves, a dive move that lets you avoid enemy fire, and a shield move. On Pocky, you wave a stick(I'm guessing it has some anti-curse spell on it or something), and as Rocky you wave your tail. You can also hold down the shield button to power up. Release the button and you'll either start spinning around like crazy to damage enemies(Pocky) or turn to stone and be invincible for a few seconds(Rocky).

Story- I know there's a story for this game, but all you get during actual gameplay is a short cut scene after each level. It seems like some evil monster is turning other monsters evil, and you have to go stop him. Nothing special here.

Graphics- All the sprites look great, especially the bosses. Everything's clear as well, so you'll never wonder what a certain item is.

Sound- The sound is your typical Japan-themed-game music. The songs that play during the level are fine, and the boss music fits as well. It's nothing memorable, though.

Gameplay- Wow. For such a cute looking game, you'd never think there'd be so much challenge and strategy involved. The first level or two you can get by by just trying to throw cards at the enemy and avoid their attacks. After that, though, the difficulty skyrockets. You'll be using your dive move often (and almost constantly during boss battles) and your blocking move will become invaluable.

You'll also have to start repeating levels over and over again, figuring out how to get past this part, or how to kill that enemy without getting hurt. The levels never get old, though. The whole thing really reminds me of Ninja Gaiden, in fact.

Then at the end of the level, you fight a boss. This is, in my opinion, the best part of the game. EVERY attack a boss uses can be avoided, it just takes practice. Many bosses are, like the levels, hard but incredibly fun.

The only bad thing about the game is that the difficulty curve is extremely steep. I stopped playing for a while after I got to the third level because I couldn't beat it.

Multiplayer- The one player experience, like I said, is incredibly fun, but the best part about the game is easily the multiplayer, where you work together to pass the levels. You still have to use all your strategy, but you also have to consider many other things- Who should get what power ups? How should you take on a boss? And if two experts are playing on a high difficulty level, it's a plain wonderful experience.

Overall- So, there you have it. One of the most underrated games of all time, in my opinion. The single player mode alone makes it worth playing, but the multiplayer is what makes it so wonderful in the end.

9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/14/05