Rating of
4/5
Possumus Postumus
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 08/20/16
“Rocket Knight” (“RK”) is a semi-sequel/semi-reboot for an old franchise that hasn’t seen the light of day since the Sega Genesis. “Rocket Knight Adventures” and “Sparkster” were both released by Konami in the early 1990s, which was an entirely different era when most videogames featured a ‘Funny Animal’ mascot (usually with ‘attitude’) in a 2D Platformer. “RK,” itself developed by Climax Studios and published by Konami just a few short years before the publisher decided to commit Japanese ritual suicide and move wholly into the mobile and pachinko spaces, seems like a last-ditch effort to revive interest in an old IP that has collected an impressive layer of dust since its last appearance. Unfortunately for fans of the rocket-powered possum, “RK” didn’t miraculously reignite gamers’ interest in Funny Animal platformers, despite being a solid game in its own right.
Presentation
“RK” is a 2.5D Platformer, meaning that it uses fully polygonal environments and models, but presents them from a side-scrolling, 2D perspective. I have been a fan of 2.5D since it first came into use, as it simultaneously preserves classic gameplay and lessens the development burden. “RK” looks very nice, overall, with sharp and colorful environments and interesting stylistic designs. The main character, Sparkster the Possum, looks a bit different – skinnier and lankier – than what little I’ve seen of character art from previous games, but “RK’s” Funny Animal cast all have a lot of personality, despite the fact that they never actually say anything.
The soundtrack in “RK” is quite pleasant. I can’t say that I have any fond memories of particular tunes from previous games in the franchise, but coming into the series for the first time as an outsider, I can’t say anything negative about the audio.
Technically, “RK” is quite solid. I didn’t experience any major technical issues. However, I am disappointed that the game perpetually showed me keyboard prompts on menus and during the opening tutorial, despite the fact that I was using an XBONE Elite controller.
Story
“RK” is a traditional platformer that uses minimal storytelling elements to push-along the action. However, there seems to be a lot of continuity in this game from previous entries in the franchise, which was lost on me having never played the previous titles.
The story in “RK” is conveyed entirely through pantomime, as the characters never actually speak, nor is there any written narration. This makes interpreting the events of the game far more difficult than it should be.
Apparently, a tribe of pigs were the antagonists in previous games in this franchise, yet “RK” opens with the pigs and possums living side by side in harmony. Their peaceful life is interrupted when an army of wolves swoops in aboard a fleet of airships and begins wreaking havoc. Our hero, Sparkster, who had apparently retired after two games, digs up his old rocket armor and leaps into the fray to defend his people (and the pigs) from the invading wolves.
Sparkster apparently has a rival possum, named Axel, who has a suit of rocket armor of his own. While Sparkster struggles to defeat the invading army, Axel mostly just gets in his way, steals his glory, and seems uncomfortably chummy with Swinehart, the leader of the pigs.
There are a few cutscenes scattered through the game’s 14 stages that continually push the action in a reasonable direction, while simultaneously revealing a plot twist or two. Overall, “RK” doesn’t have the most gripping narrative and leaves a lot of guesswork for players who aren’t steeped in franchise mythology. For all its minimalism, however, the game’s story still mostly makes sense and gets its job done for the game’s roughly 2-hour duration.
Gameplay
Sega Genesis platformers typically obsessed over characters who could move quickly. Sparkster the Possum possessed a “Rocketeer”-inspired jetpack and energy sword that provide him with a suite of skills.
“RK” is divided into three types of stages. Typical platforming stages see Sparkster moving largely from left-to-right, overcoming obstacles, defeating enemies, and collecting gems. Each stage contains a large number of blue gems and a smaller number of red gems. Collecting all gems of a given color provides the player with an extra life (in addition to the small number of 1-ups scattered throughout the stages). Sparkster has a heart meter that decreases as he takes hits, and can be refilled with heart pick-ups that appear at set locations in stages. In addition to his heart meter, Sparkster has a fuel meter that powers his technological abilities. This fuel meter recharges on its own and allows for a rocket-powered double-jump, a drill-jump that can pierce through certain obstacles, a spinning sword attack, and a short-range projectile. The rocket-jump is one of the signature features of this franchise, providing sudden bursts of speed and allowing Sparkster to ricochet of any surface he rockets into at a 45 degree (diagonal) angle.
Aside from traditional platforming stages, “RK” features a number of scrolling SHMUP stages, in which Sparkster has unlimited flight time and can fire regular projectiles or a screen-width charged beam attack to destroy floating mines and enemies.
Boss battles take up entire stages on their own, and can be either in platforming or SHMUP style. These are largely pattern memorization and dodging affairs, though the boss patterns are a lot more complex than the typical 16-bit era game.
With only 14 stages, “RK” is not particularly content-rich, especially for the $15 retail price point. Being as short as it is, “RK” also suffers a bit from difficulty spikes that ramp up more quickly than they really should. Perhaps the worst feature or “RK,” however, is the fact that it still uses an archaic system of limited lives and continues. In Free Play Mode, the player is free to tackle any stage they have unlocked as many times as they wish (typically in order to hunt-down the locations of all of the gems in each stage). However, the default Arcade Mode starts the player with a handful of lives and 3 continues. To be fair, I never ran out of lives or even had to use a single continue in my playthrough of the game, but I can imagine the frustration this limit would instill in young or inexperienced players, especially if they manage to reach the fairly-tricky final boss battle before getting booted back to the start. Sure, having to repeat the entire game a number of times in order to finish it would increase the gameplay duration from 2 hours, but would it actually be ‘fun’? Platforming pros and masochists already have Hard Mode as an option, and a number of achievements to hunt as it is.
Overall
“Rocket Knight” is a fun, colorful blast from the past that does a great job of capturing what gamers from the ‘90s liked about 2D Platformers. It’s a little on the short side, a little on the expensive side (when not on a Steam Sale), and still clings to the outdates lives/continues system, but is, overall, an enjoyable experience. Fans from the Genesis era won’t want to miss out on Sparkster’s last hurrah.
Presentation: 4/5
Story: 3.5/5
Gameplay: 4/5
Overall (not an average): 4/5
