Most people under twenty-five likely aren’t too familiar with the old Rocky & Bullwinkle variety cartoon show. But for just about everyone over twenty-five, it’s remembered as a staple of children’s television. Running in syndication for what seemed like forever, the show was seen by everyone growing up from 1961 till the late 1980s. The series was even tapped for an NES game in the early 1990s. And sadly the trend that game started has continued on to this latest entry into gaming from the squirrel and moose. If this game was designed by the US government, we can only assume that Boris and Natasha (characters from the series for you younger folks) somehow infiltrated the design team and sabotaged the game.
I went into this game, like many my age I’m sure, thinking that I’d get a chance to relive some of my memories from the old cartoon, but ended up feeling let down once the game began. The basic layout of Rocky & Bullwinkle is actually done right. It seems like Zen Studios started out with all the right ideas in mind, but then just got lazy. The concept is the all-to-familiar grouping of mini-games slapped together idea. Picture mini-game titles like “WTF (Work Time Fun)” for the PSP or WarioWare for the Gameboy line. You wouldn’t think you could go wrong with this concept, which is one reason a lot of companies have released these types of games in recent years. It’s a safety net title. You can use excuses like quantity over quality or excuse some mini-games for being bad if others are good. But when none of the games are actually fun, you get a mash-up of something no one wants.
Mini-games should be one of two things and preferably both. They should be quick and they should be fun. Rocky and Bullwinkle magically avoids being either with “mini” games that seem to be far too long to be enjoyable. The ones that are quick are so frustratingly annoying; they can’t even be enjoyed for a quick thrill. That’s because you’re stuck trying to complete them thanks to the game forcing you to repeat them over and over. You want to move onto the next mini-game you say? Too bad sucka. At least in “WTF” for the PSP, the story is that you’re in hell. Rocky & Bullwinkle try to hide that fact from you, but trust me; you are in hell when playing this patchwork of mini-games.
Graphically Zen Studios even fails to capture the magic of the old squirrel and moose show by using what can only be described as flash animation graphics. The thick borders on the characters make this game look more like an animation project by a couple of college students who saw the classic show once and decided to make their own version than anything resembling the original cartoon. Due to this grave injustice of the old show, all nostalgia that may have been had is lost with this new look. As for the sound, there was an obvious issue with getting the original voice talent. I did mention this show first ran in 1961 didn’t I? There is however a few snippets of original voice clips sprinkled in, but for some reason, Zen failed to get the ones that really mattered. A Dudley Doright game without the famous call of the Canadian Mountie is a travesty to fans of the original show.
What this all comes down to is a poorly executed attempt at cashing in on a nostalgic property that has either been forgotten and overlooked by other companies or too old for some to even remember. The flash-looking graphics combined with terrible mini-games result in something that should have been scrapped halfway through the development process. If you want to waste money, at least waste on something you can say gave you some enjoyment. This game however will provide you with none.
Graphics | Audio | Gameplay | Replay | Genre | Final |
