The simplicity of Super Rocket Shootout cannot be understated. It’s a good ‘ol jump in and have fun sort of situation with the gameplay. It tosses in some goodies here and there for variety, but ultimately it just wants you to have quick bouts of fun. That’s a concept I grew up with in the arcade days of gaming and this is a concept that works for me with Super Rocket Shootout. That doesn’t mean that I don’t believe it can’t be more, and it should, but as it stands it’s fun. That’s why you play games, folks, for the ‘fun’.
Indie games are the very foundation of a healthy video game industry. They are the places where pure creativity is born and some of the best games/talent rise up. In a video game world driven by multi-million dollar deals and cookie-cutter templates year-in and year-out, indie games can be where it’s at when you’re looking for a shift in the video game paradigm. Taking a simple concept and pushing it in a few other directions can mean a fun game.
The case with Super Rocket Shootout from Oddly Shaped Pixels snags a bit of that shift but doesn’t stray too far away from its roots. The game has the markings of a 2D brawler, but the personality that says, “It’s simple fun here”. Without further delay, let’s get right to it.
Super Rocket Shootout is at its very core a 2D brawler gamer that features a four-player set. The concept is easy, you play as power packing player and you traverse a multi-tier map that allows for bouncing from platform to platform using a nifty rocket pack. The goal? Bring down your enemies before they bring you down. You can use various weapons unlocked through the story mode, including grenades, TNT, and a few other forms of nastiness, or you can simply use the gun that was given to you at the beginning. The last standing player takes the match.
As for the maps, the variety of maps is interesting for this game, as they do add some change-up to the gameplay. The maps start from a simple multi-level building, where walls can be blown out, then quickly shift to more creative forms, such as a train (watch out for those tunnels), and a loose construction site where you have large slabs of steel that can be dropped on unsuspecting players. The level variety and creativity is a huge plus for this game and help to keep the simple gameplay interesting, which is what is needed for an indie game like Super Rocket Shootout.
The variety of levels and there are some really solid/creative designs, doesn’t change up the gameplay style or pace. To say the pace of the game is fast/furious would be an incredible understatement. The matches, which last probably two minutes at most, are quick hitters that make it difficult to find much to complain about. Like stated previously, the game is simple and fun. That said, the game is so simple that it may not play or look like something incredibly different from the last 2D brawler you might have run into on a console. Sure, it’s not as complicated as a Super Smash Bros., but its simplicity is more in content than in strategy. My point, it doesn’t go beyond the basic concept of a 2D brawler and doesn’t extend itself beyond new expectations, but it does focus on the fun it brings and quite frankly that’s really all you want or need.
The game does feature multiple modes to choose from to give it some more variety beyond just different maps, but the modes aren’t too far off from each other in structure and gameplay. Here’s what you’re getting:
Tutorial — This is probably my biggest complaint in the game. It forces you into a tutorial that has multiple stages to it and a lot of dialogue. I’ve played brawlers before, I know how brawlers work, and the game isn’t so complicated that it needs to explain what is what, so I’m not sure the reasoning behind the forced tutorial. It does a fine job of explaining things, but it feels unnecessary as a restriction to progress to the other modes. Much like a manual included in games way back in ye golden years of the industry, if players feel lost, then they will go search for answers within the tutorial. You have to trust your players just a bit, especially those folks that count milliseconds and use only CRTs when playing games like Smash Brothers — those folks aren’t dummies, and those are who you are catering to with this one.
Story — This is entertaining and motivating. It allows you to progress from bank robbery gone wrong to a brutal train stage (there is more, but I’m not giving it away). You are introduced to characters, guns, and other forms of ‘winning’ in the game through the story mode. I appreciated this mode quite a bit because it didn’t take an incredibly large amount of time to get through, and it felt fun. The motivating part of the story mode is the goody packages you receive for completing stages. These packages open stages, open characters and open the game up a little to make it just a little bit deeper than it deserves.
Arcade — This is the same type of game that the story mode is, but without the dialogue. Also, it’s one-on-one. This reminds me of Mortal Kombat arcade days with a character tree to get through on randomly selected stages. It’s fun and simple, much like the core of the game.
Shootout — This is a 1-4 player game that puts you up against your friends. Same concept, same results, same fun.
There is an additional game mode called ‘Custom Game’, which you can pretty much figure out on your own.
The simplicity of Super Rocket Shootout cannot be understated. It’s a good ‘ol jump in and have fun sort of situation with the gameplay. It tosses in some goodies here and there for variety, but ultimately it just wants you to have quick bouts of fun. That’s a concept I grew up with in the arcade days of gaming and this is a concept that works for me with Super Rocket Shootout. That doesn’t mean that I don’t believe it can’t be more, and it should, but as it stands it’s fun. That’s why you play games, folks, for the ‘fun’.
