Protecting the earth from annihilation can be pretty tricky. With everything involved as far as time restraints, constructing your best offensive move, and at the same time trying to avoid those pesky aliens, all this takes time with great patience and a little luck thrown in.
With a little help from a mad scientist and some rockets you can do just that. Hooligans Entertainment will help you achieve this with their latest iOS arcade puzzle adventure, Boom The Rock (Free, Universal, iPad HD version)
Overview
Boom The Rock has simple and straightforward gameplay. You play as the mad scientist, Doc. You’re job as Doc is to stop asteroids from hitting earth by launching rockets to strike one asteroid after another. To do this, you have to estimate an exact trajectory to make sure you get your rocket head on. At the same time you have to dodge certain obstacles such as space rocks and aliens.
This concept may sound pretty simple, but it can get frustrating at times, which isn’t a bad thing to say the least. It’s such a fun and addicting puzzle game, that I didn’t find myself getting discouraged through the more tough levels.
Besides your main goal of trying to hit the asteroid with the rocket, you need to collect all the explosives on screen or else you’ll have to start the level over. There is a lot of strategy involved for such a simple game. That’s what sets this apart from other casual arcade puzzle games.
Gameplay
One great aspect of Boom The Rock are the graphics, which are just fine for such a game because since it’s more of a casual arcade puzzle, graphics really don’t matter as much. The developers focused more on gameplay and it really shows, being that the game is so fun. The presentation really adds to both the gameplay and graphics.
Boom The Rock sometimes feels like a more serious game in a way that, because you only have a certain amount of time to destroy the asteroid, there’s a lot of pressure, not only because of the time limit, but the voiceovers give the game that extra charisma that’s welcoming for an arcade puzzle game.
Controls
The controls of Boom The Rock are another great example of simple and causal gameplay. A line in which you have to control by setting the trajectory of the curve guides the rocket going from your feet to the asteroid. You have to drag the points on the line to set the curve as the rocket needs to collect explosives along the way. It may be somewhat helpful that you have a path to follow for the rocket, which isn’t too constrained. I think it would have been more fun to be able to control the rocket with an on-screen joystick, but of course if they went in this direction, the aliens would have to move randomly around the screen. Plus, since it has to be on a somewhat set path to the asteroid, the gameplay requires more strategy this way.
Conclusion
Boom The Rock is a great space game that requires some patience and strategy, but once you get the hang of it, the games gets very addicting. Other than simple controls and great presentation, Boom The Rock offers 64 challenging puzzles, original music and sound effects, and a fun storyline. If you want to try saving the planet from impending doom, because who wouldn’t, try out Boom The Rock for free now.
Price: Free, Universal, iPad HD version
Rating: 4.5/5[rating:4.5]
Pros:
- 64 challenging levels
- Great presentation and original graphics
- Nice game mechanics
Cons:
- Would have like to been able to control the rocket more freely
