Rewind Review: Rocky and Bullwinkle (XBLA)
Rocky and Bullwinkle was developed by Zen Studios. It was released on April 16, 2008 and costs 800 MSP.
Rocky and Bullwinkle is a mini game super fest with the whole cast from the beloved children’s show. You play through seven distinct worlds, each with there own set of amusing levels, giving you a total of 105 different mini-games to play. You can play through all the levels by yourself or with up to 11 friends locally for a quirky experience that only Rocky and Bullwinkle can provide.
Here’s what we liked:
Quirky comments – One of the best things about the Rocky and Bullwinkle show from the 60’s was the goofy slapstick comments that were abundantly used. This type of humor is back and in full force, if there is a chance for a witty pun, they jump on it with no hesitation.
Graphic style – Rocky and Bullwinkle has ridiculously simple art presentation, but it works very well for this type of game. Everything in the game looks like it has been hand drawn and cut out. It just proves that graphics don’t have to be the best in the world in order to be fun or fit your game.
Here’s what we didn’t like:
Mini games – Rocky and Bullwinkle gives you a 105 different games to play, which should feel like a huge amount. Disappointingly it only feels like a small handful, as most games feel just like ones you have already played, only now with a new skin. This gets very old, very fast!
Randomization – Once again the number of mini games (105) should come into play, allowing you to have a million combinations of game sets. This isn’t the case, as it will throw the same game at you five or six times in a small rotation of what you would think to be 18 different games. This makes the game very monotonous and redundant early on, killing any chance of feeling like there is some variety.
Lack of precision – Rocky and Bullwinkle requires you to line up things in sorts in many different ways. Sometimes this is accomplished by spinning an object to fit the outline, or aim a cross hair at a specific target. The flaw here is that it just doesn’t work. Things can be lined up correctly and the clock will still run out. This can induce a controller throwing rage as it starts to happen more and more on the higher levels.
Rocky and Bullwinkle had such potential to be a great party game, unfortunately it just falls short of the goal. Seeing the whole gang is awesome and hearing some of the commentary is just breath taking hilarious. Sadly though this is not enough to make you look past how boring and lackluster this game really is on a whole.
Score: Skip it!