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| Welcome
to Game of the Week! Each week there will be a
new featured game on this page. The game may be good,
average or diabolically bad, it really doesn't matter!
Just look at the pics, read the text and enjoy the nostalgia!
:-) Game of the Week! is open to contributions so if you
would like to contribute
a game article for this page you're more than welcome
to! Every article we receive will be considered! |
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Rock
'n' Wrestle
1985 Merlbourne
House
Programmed
by Gregg Barnett
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text of the present article comes from the review published
in the twelfth issue of the British C64 magazine ZZAP!64
(street date: March 13th, 1986). |
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ROCK
'N' WRESTLE
Melbourne
House, £9.95 cass, joystick or keys
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From the authors of the best selling martial arts simulation,
Way of the Exploding Fist, comes an alternative
computer sport -- wrestling, in the form of Rock
'n' Wrestle. As grapple supremo Gorgeous Greg (is
this an ego trip for the main programmer Gregg Barnett
or the graphics designer Greg Holland, one wonders?),
you must battle your way past nine hardened opponents,
each with their own distinctive style, to become champion
of the world. Or, if the mood takes you, there is a
two-player option so you can grapple with a friend.
Mick
Molotov about to slam Redneck McCoy into the canvas.
There are 24 different wrestling manoeuvres at your
disposal and all are accessible from a single joystick
(or set of keys if you're so inclined), although only
four moves are available at any time, depending upon
the situation. For example, at the beginning of a bout
you can't do anything other than 'soften up' your opponent
by either grabbing, kneeing, kicking or 'punching' him.
You
start with a limited amount of energy (represented by
a bar at the bottom of the screen), as does your opponent,
and this decreases with every assault. Once you've got
your man firmly within your grasp he can be headbutted,
lifted (energy permitting) and eventually picked up
and thrown about the ring. Then, when he is sufficiently
stunned, you can jump on him and attempt to pin him
to floor for 3 seconds, success resulting in a win and
a confrontation with the next, tougher opponent. However,
when you find yourself in a similar, uncompromising
position then a quick spurt of furious joystick jiggling
is required to break the hold.
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What
a disappointment! After the excellent Exploding
Fist I
expected great things of this, but no! The graphics
are awful and the gameplay incongruous and confused.
When playing it's possible to kick your opponent in
the nether regions until he has no energy at all, but
when you go to grapple some sort of divine intervention
gives him enough strength to pick you up and hurl you
across the ring, making the energy bars pointless. Still,
this could be considered authentic, since it seems to
happen just like that in the so-called real thing! The
graphics are very blocky indeed and the 'speech' (shcha,
shchoo, shchii) garbled and unintelligible. The potential
for a really good game is here, but unfortunately it
just hasn't been realised.
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Despite
consistently being told otherwise by numerous
months of Melbourne House hype, Rock
and Wrestle
is not particularly good. Certainly not what you'd
expect from the programmer of Exploding
Fist.
The whole thing just looks so cheap and unprofessional.
Graphically it is primitive to say the least and
is severely retarded in the animation department.
The characters lurch about the ring unrealistically,
with seemingly no knowledge of inertia of momentum.
Though not flickery, progression between different
frames of animation is anything but fluid. Different
wrestlers merely have different heads and different
shades of leotard. Neither do they act differently
when fighting, and one opponent seems very like
any other. The graphics are bad but the sound
is worse. When out for the count, the referee's
digitised voice sounds unlike anything human.
Admittedly there is some initial appeal once you
start to play but this soon fades. I would say
don't buy it, but it's only fair to let you find
out for yourselves.
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Presentation 84%
Comprehensive instructions, adequate attract mode
and many options.
Graphics
42%
Porky, blocky, poorly animated
sprites and little else.
Sound
65%
Boppy background music isn't outstanding
and spot effects are crude.
Hookability
60%
We all found ourselves quite excited
for a few minutes despite the immediate impact
of the graphics.
Lastability
51%
Just not gripping enough,
despite the large variety of moves and opponents.
Value
For Money 46%
It's quite a high price for a disappointing
game.
Overall
53%
A hard idea to put on a computer,
possibly a worthy try, but the potential hasn't
quite been realised.
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Htmlized
by Dimitris
Kiminas (29 Jan 2005)
Other
"Games of the Week!"
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