Rock of Ages PS3 Review - PAGE 1

It took over nine months, but Rock of Ages has finally been released on the Playstation Network for the PS3. Developed by ACE team and published by Atlus, the game loosely follows the myth of Sisyphus who  -- as the story goes -- was forced to roll a large boulder up a giant hill only to have it roll back down right as he neared the top as punishment for defying the Gods.

In Rock of Ages, Sisyphus realizes there's a better way to deal with his problems. He seeks revenge on the Gods who have been taunting him and figures out that rolling the boulder downhill smashes through gates therefore allowing him to escape his fate. This results in a trip through time as various characters found throughout history try to stop Sisyphus and his human squishing boulder.

Rolling Over the Competition

Simply put, the main idea behind Rock of Ages is to smash your opponents gate and squish him or her. It's a deceptively simple concept. So simple in fact, you only need to use the left stick for movement, right stick for the camera, and the X button to jump to control the boulder.

Though it may not sound overly exciting at first, Rock of Ages quickly develops from a game of Marble Madness to a strong tower defense game where you must build structures and units to keep your opponent from reaching your gate. The structures start out as simple towers and develop into massive obstructions as the story mode moves forward. Besides the towers you can also place catapults, cows and elephants to push the enemy boulder, and even set up aerial defenses to alert your castle catapult of the enemy's boulder location.

There's not a lot of time to build your defenses before the enemy launches their own boulder with the same intent of smashing your gate. Once your boulder is ready you have a choice of continuing to build up your positions or launch down the enemy's twisting maze littered with roadblocks, hazards, and squishy people.

Everything you or your opponent runs into slowly chips away at your boulder's strength. While getting hit with a missile launched from a catapult will do some serious damage to your boulder, falling off on of the edges into the abyss doesn't have any effect. Time is of the essence though and smashing into your opponents gate quickly gets you back into defense mode where you can revitalize your army while waiting for a new boulder to be chiseled out of solid stone.

Along with the extra defenses for your path, you can also purchase power-ups for your boulder. Buying a halo allows you to double jump once during the roll, while getting steel plating gives you some added protection. Each power-up can only be used once during the battle, so you must choose wisely which to utilize and when. For instance, rolling through a river when you have the fire power-up will put out the flames while adding the darkness to the boulder will blot out usable space for the enemy's towers.

Besides the story mode there is also time challenge mode, skee boulder, obstacle courses, as well as online and local multiplayer war.  Pushing for all gold medals in the time challenge can be painstaking as can be the obstacle courses. Skee boulder finds you rolling your boulder down a slope towards a target similar to what you'd find on a skee ball machine in an arcade. Unfortunately the online multiplayer was vacant, so I stuck to local multiplayer much to the delight of my kids who picked up the game and wouldn't let me back on until I sent them to bed.

I have since learned the online multiplayer is having troubles and some folks are calling it flat out broken. I only received a notice no one was available to play, so assumed no one was playing at the time. You can follow the debate on the official ACE Team forums. Hopefully they will release a patch soon.

Minor Gripes

If there's any real downfall with Rock of Ages (besides the broken multiplayer) it would have to be the ease of the game. While true it is accessible to nearly everyone of all ages, some of the more die-hard gamers out there will most likely pass off the title based on that reason alone. There are still challenging moments in the game, and anyone who is after 100% completion will be happy chasing down all of the hidden keys and gold medals in the time challenges.

I would have liked more time with the tower defense build up. As it stands there's a very hurried approach to throwing up some defenses -- any defenses -- before the enemy boulder is approaching or your boulder is ready to roll. It's a haphazard affair, and ACE did such a fine job of creating these elements I would have enjoyed spending more time immersed in that experience.

Look and Sound

The cut scenes pay homage to days of old when Monty Python's Flying Circus dominated British airwaves. If you've ever seen an episode then you no doubt are familiar with Terry Gilliam's whimsical and hysterical cut-out animation scenes. Rock of Ages takes this surrealist approach a bit further and tailors a few scenes aimed towards the gaming audience. Fans will enjoy the nod to Mystery Science Theater 3000 as well as Castlevania, though some younger folks may not recognize these references.

The music is silly and charming, once again pointing out the surrealist side of the game, while the sound effects fill in any void for their own humorous moments. Running over enemy units creates a satisfying squishing sound while smashing into wood would splinter it into pieces; my favorite moment is the enemy screaming when you finally crash through their gates. My children felt the same way, as I had to inform them whenever I was about to do so. They'd all rush over and wait for the scream and proceed to run around the living room copying the game. We all shared quite a few laughs over that.

Final Thoughts

If you've played Rock of Ages on the Xbox or PC, then you already know what to expect here. While the new features are cute, they add very little to the overall experience. Though the story mode is relatively short and the online multiplayer seems to be broken for the time being, the gameplay is quite addictive. Also trying to find the hidden keys and earn a gold medal in every time trial adds plenty of replay value, making this a great game to have in your library at only $9.99.

For those who have never played the game before, you're in for a real treat. I highly recommend the experience for all who can appreciate the simplistic nature of the game. It's not meant to be overly challenging, but instead to give you satisfaction that only a boulder rolling over people and splintering gates all to hell can achieve.