When it comes to casual games on mobile, logic and realism always take a back seat to fun. A decade ago we were all swept up by the spectacle of birds catapulting themselves at pigs, and now the star of the show is a dude who wants his underpants back.
Like Angry Birds, Rocky Rampage: Wreck ‘em Up sees you launching a projectile, which is also the main protagonist of the game, at a thieving enemy.
This projectile/central character is called Mr Boulder, or Boulder Cobblestone to his friends. A fashion icon in his native Rock Kingdom, Mr Boulder emerges from the shower one day to discover that his prized underpants have been stolen.
The culprit: Her Sharpness Empress Clipper, ruler of the Empire of Scissor.
Naturally, Cobblestone has no choice but to take up arms against the Scissor Empire, and his only means of doing this is to become a giant cannonball. With the assistance of a massive boar, Cobblestone takes to the skies over and over again, crushing as many enemy soldiers as he can before rolling to a halt.
The aim in Rocky Rampage: Wreck ‘em Up is to get as far as possible. Once airborne, you’ve got relatively little control over Cobblestone – all you do is give him upwards jolts whenever his energy bar is full. He fills this up again by squashing goons, but it empties fast.
That’s not to say there’s no skill involved. You need to time these bumps to perfection in order to take advantage of the power-ups and bombs that litter the world.
A bomb, available from the start, will give you some extra juice, while mounts carry you along for a stretch. It all helps get you closer to that dastardly Empress.
Between attempts, you purchase various different upgrades that help you get further next time, locking you into a highly addictive incremental progress loop. Rocky Rampage: Wreck ‘em Up, with its short, frantic bursts, is a perfect example of ‘just one more go’ gameplay.
You can download it for free right now on Google Play and the App Store.
