I’m generally not a big fan of these small downloadable arcade games, however, many companies have been putting a lot more effort into making them more worth your 10-15 dollars. Capcom has to be one of the foremost of these companies. At their recent conference, Digital Day, they announced quite a number of upcoming downloadable arcade games, most of which are remakes of existing franchises.
Enter Rocketmen: Axis of Evil, not an existing franchise in the video game world, it is an existing game franchise, as in collectible card game. Capcom hasn’t exactly reinvented the wheel, or the arcade game, but they have included a number of great features to stretch your gameplay dollar. Some of these include 4 player drop in drop out co-op gameplay throughout the entire game. Customizable stats, semi-custom characters, and a good amount of powerups.
Keep reading for the giveaway details and the entire review.
Here’s the official bullet list of game features:
- Fast-paced arcade action
- 1 – 4 players on or offline
- Online multiplayer gameplay through a variety of mini games that let players instantly jump into existing games
- Design and build your own character for both single and multi-player games, each with their own unique skills and look
- Further character customization options through new items and abilities earned by progressing through a variety of quests
- Multiple hours of gameplay with plenty of levels, hordes of enemies, huge bosses and engaging story for maximum replay value
- Beautiful cartoon-like art style brings life to the characters and environments
- Competitive online ranking system High definition
- 1080i graphics
Yes, it’s another omni-directional shooter. One joystick controls your movement, the other controls your shooting. There are many good features to help it standout, like experience points for upgrading at the end of each level. There’s also a few not so great things, like the camera moving you forward before you’ve had a chance to pickup all the powerups you earned.
The game can be a little frustrating at times, but not enough to stop you from playing. There are times when there are so many enemies you can’t possibly dodge all their fire. The weapons you pick up are all on a timer, I think it’s 15 seconds from when you pick it up. Once your time’s up, you’re back to the dismal blaster you start with. (Oh, and here’s a little tip to help keep you from missing some of the out of reach powerups. Press the “B” button, which is the “Loot Vacuum”. I will pull any unreachable items toward you. This should’ve been automatic, but it helps when you just can’t reach stuff. I didn’t even realize you could do this until half-way through the game.)
The cutscenes are written well, similar to the internet cartoon, however, they in no way live up to the level of quality Capcom has shown in many other games throughout the year. I know the game wasn’t done in-house, but they did put their name on it, and they arguably have some of the best artist of any game developer. The cutscenes should’ve at least been done by the team that did the Rocketmen internet cartoon.
All in all, I’m gonna give the game a fair score of 7/10. It’s a good game for a few hours of co-op multiplayer fun for a decent price. It could’ve been better, then again, everything could be better. It doesn’t try to be anything it’s not. It does what it’s supposed to well, though not much else. If nothing else it’ll pass the time until some of the real meat of the Capcom arcade games line-up come out, like Commando 3, Street Fighter 2: HD Remix, and Bionic Commando: ReArmed.
Oh, while 10 bucks ain’t bad. Free is even better, right? We’ve got a free download code for Xbox 360 to giveaway thanks to good folks at Capcom. Rules: Just leave a comment below this post. You’ll be automatically registered to get the Rocketmen: Axis of Evil download code for the Xbox Live Arcade version of the game. Just one post a day. We’ll probably give the game away on Friday this week.
Boom!
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Son Nguyen