Puz: Rocknor's Bad Day [by Monolux]

Game Review: Rocknor's Bad Day
Release: Sept. 20, 2002
Genre: Puzzle
Developer: Monolux
System Requirements: Celeron 433hmz or higher,10mb hd, 96mb RAM
Price: US $19.95

With today's games focusing on the aerodynamics of blood flow from a sword wound, it's nice to see a "clean" game every once in a while. ROCKNOR’S BAD DAY—according to Monolux–"isn't about violence", but after playing it, you'll probably be looking forward to killing the nearest person to you.

The premise behind ROCKNOR’S BAD DAY is that Rocknor, a peace-loving robot, is lost and wants to go home. In order to do this, you’ll control Rocknor and have to solve your way through over 30 levels by pressing switches, manipulating other robots, teleporting, and riding conveyer belts. The environment is "interactive"—but only very selectively so. About the only thing with which to interact are big blocks; you can push these around to cross rivers or redirect the movement of an edge-hugging Spinbot.

ROCKNOR’S BAD DAY boasts "a huge, detailed world," which basically means that you—and not Rocknor—will get lost rather quickly. The levels are not terribly large, but seeing only a small portion on the screen and the lack of a map easily make them seem immense.

The first few levels are enjoyable; they feature many "tutorial terminals" which give you tips and pointers, telling you what you can do and how, also eliminating the need for a help file. Each new level adds an additional element of gameplay, such as teleporters or hidden switches. These are then included in later levels, increasing the complexity of the game, level by level.

The game also understands that, from time to time, you may make a big mistake and not be able to complete the level. Well, just hit the restart button on the menu and you are back at the last waypoint which you activated. While this was a helpful feature on the first few levels, it became as common as breathing after just over a dozen. You'll have to constantly try different things, and if one doesn't work, there is no other choice but to reset. Because of this, you'll spend a reset or two trying to get across, say, a river, only to find a much more complex puzzle after it. Then, you'll inadvertently make a mistake and have to reset, starting back before the river-crossing.

In that respect, I was vaguely reminded of the old game Simon, where you would have to repeat ever-increasing sequences of lights. ROCKNOR’S BAD DAY became not only a task on puzzle-solving, but one of memory retention. This is also where the lack of map would hurt. Due to the small screen size, it was hard to piece together just where you were going. It also made it easy for a wandering Mowerbot to mulch you, quickly appearing on the edge of your screen and just as quickly putting you back to your last waypoint.

Monolux seemed to understand this, too, and built in a feature that lets you go to a web page with hints and maps. There is also a full solution for each level, as well. Still, having these doesn't really make the tough levels any easier. Usually, to move a block from point A to point B, you'll have to bring it around in the most long, awkward path possible, using other robots to open switches—or dodging them. Even knowing what to do does not make its execution simple. Generally, even without looking on-line, you will know what to do; it’s doing it that gives you problems and headaches.

Graphics: 6 / 10
ROCKNOR’S BAD DAY is obviously a 2D, psuedo-3D, scroller, so don't expect any breath-taking scenery. Still, the levels are brightly colored, and Monolux clearly put some effort into the character designs. The game is tile-based, but the tiles aren't too outstanding. You can tell what is tall grass and what is dirt, so they do their job, but there aren't internal tile-type variations; it's the same tile for every piece of grass or tiled floor. Also, while some tiles are animated, this consists only of a simple frame-change. It's not spectacular, but it is pretty.

There is always a sidebar on the right, feeding you information from terminals and providing you with a link to the menu. After a few levels, I never again wanted to hear a terminal remind me that I could get help online. I would give the game another point if you could remove the sidebar and play with a bigger view of the land.

Sound: 6 / 10
As with the tiles, there is very little variation in sounds. Every time that you activate a terminal, you'll here the same terminal sound. The same is true of everything else, but these sounds weren't over-used. They are played often enough for you to be familiar with them, but sparsely enough so that you aren't sick of them.

The music is nice; it's not loud, and it's not over-bearing. The songs are cheery and upbeat, which suits the game just fine. To boost this, Monolux included optional "extended tracks" for use with the game. That would almost give it an extra sound point, except for the fact that in order to use these, you have to play them in WinAMP (or some other media program) outside of the game. So, no extra point for you.

Game play: 6 / 10
It is somewhat difficult to rate the gameplay. People are either going to love it or hate it.

The game play is original for a few levels, but after that, it was just the same old material over and over. I personally got tired of running around trying to find the exit and then running around trying to get the Mowerbots to do what I wanted them to do—without getting run over in the process.

What ameliorated that was the fact that Rocknor is fast—I mean really fast. But, being so fast, you'll probably do a lot of things that you don't want to. If you know that you'll be pushing an important block, hold "shift" to move one space at a time. Other than that, you're just going to be running around—fast—getting lost, and pushing blocks in front of Mowerbots.

Options: 8 / 10
There were only a few things to be modified in ROCKNOR'S BAD DAY, and they were all there. Sound, music, and speed were it. I had the game running almost as fast as possible because it would drive me crazy to walk and do everything over again for the 10th time because I messed up. Also, while the soundtrack is decent, I liked to mute the music and play in windowed mode—that was also an option—so that I could listen to my JPop and do other things when Rocknor got run over...again.

The only reason that this isn't getting a 10 for options is that I want a "reset" button, like "space bar" or "tab"... something. I had to reset enough that it might have been bearable to do so, save having to go to the menu and click on reset.

Concept: 6 / 10
While pressing switches is hardly original, the game was interesting. Any plot at all is simply there to take up space and give you something to look at in-between levels, so there are no points to be awarded there, though the lack of plot is much, much better than the over-use of plot. If you have played Robot Alchemic Drive (RAD), you know what I mean. I would have preferred a bit more open approach to completing levels (like being allowed to make mistakes), but like in Diablo II, dying is just part of the game; you just start back at your last waypoint and try again.

Fun: 6 / 10
Again, this is hit or miss, and for me it missed, though those who enjoyed Dweep and similar games would likely enjoy this one as well. Personally, I can't really call this game fun. Playing a level a day can be amusing, and I found it better to take turns playing levels with other people. Personally, I couldn't play more than a few levels (maybe just one) at a time before I became much too aggravated for such a simple game. If it weren’t my job to review the game, I wouldn’t have touched it after level 2.

Overall: 7 / 10
If you just want a little mental stimulation in patterns with a touch of running around, then I guess that you'd like the game. Personally, I don't recommend it for anyone over the age of 12 or under the age of 9 (maybe 10). If you're too young, you won't understand what to do; if you're too old, you won't want to do what you have to do. The puzzle crowd will likely enjoy it, but for me, it wasn’t anything I or those who played it with me really got into. Thinking about it, ROCKNOR’S BAD DAY reminds me of a game that would be installed on grade-school computers for the kids to play in either their free time or early computer classes, just enough to be fun and educational. Added: July 3rd 2003
Reviewer: Doug Manley
Score:
Related Link: Monolux Website
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Language: english