The Videogame Corner: Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break

Game: Rock or Ages III: Make & Break
Developer: ACE Team, Giant Monkey Robot
Genre: Tower Defense, Racing game
Releases: 2020 (Nintendo Switch, PC, Playstation 4, Xbox One)

There is this, lets call it a trope, that I often encounter when I hear people talk about their favorite series. Since they enjoy the content at hand, they never want it to end and always want to producers to make more, in the best case scenario indefinitely. I do not share this notion since at some point you have reached all you wanted to do with a game so you either bring out the same product with a different paint of color or, like in the case of “Rock of Ages III: Make & Break” you seemingly get so disinterested in the franchise that you might aswell make it worse. There is innovation to find in the third installment of tower defense boulder rolling, but when I read voices online that said they liked “Rock of Ages 2” better, I did not know what to make of it. Well, now I know having played the game; and I invite you to read my findings and possibly make your own judgement.

The Videogame Corner: Outpost

Game: Outpost
Developer: Open Mid Interactive
Genre: Tower Defense
Releases: 2020 (PC)

Here is one title that will not cause any confusion in the future: “Outpost”, the Tower Defense game released in 2020, is certainly not “Outpost” published by Sierra On-line in 1994 nor the similarly titled “Outpost: Infinity Siege” to be released in 2023, even though “Infinity Siege” could be the moniker of a Tower Defense game. No, in this article I am talking about a small but solid little time-waster in which you try to keep blocky creatures from destroying your base. This game lingered in my Steam library for some time and I was basically finished with it, but the willingness to write a review for all things gaming I put my hands on made it another point on my to-do list. Therefore, let me tell you about “Outpost” (2020):

The Videogame Corner: Rock of Ages 2: Bigger & Boulder

Game: Rock of Ages II: Bigger & Boulder
Developer: ACE Team
Genre: Tower Defense, Racing game
Releases: 2017 (PC, Playstation 4, Xbox 360), 2019 (Nintendo Switch)

If I am to believe one of the quotes I have seen on Twitter when I wrote this article, then consider the following: “The Simpsons writers room has a rule that should apply everywhere: Never knock down someone else’s pitch. “Crazy” or “dumb” notions can lead to brilliance/be exactly what’s needed.” I mean, silly ideas can work, that is for sure. Take “Rock of Ages”, a game from ACE Team in which you need to race a round boulder down a track in order to build up enough speed to open the opposing castle to squish the enemy leader while using Tower Defense elements to prevent your leader from sharing that fate. The entire idea of “Rock of Ages” is absolutely insane, and yet it was released. Even more: It was popular enough become a series. Which is why I am here: After my review of the first installment, it was only a matter of time when I would take a peek at “Rock of Ages II: Bigger & Boulder”. Well, I have played it, I have opinions about it; and I am willing to share my impressions in this very article.

The Videogame Corner: Rock of Ages

Game: Rock of Ages
Developer: ACE Team
Genre: Tower Defense, Racing game
Releases: 2011 (PC, Xbox 360), 2012 (PlayStation 3)

Sometimes even the silliest of ideas can turn out to be good; and unusual ideas are certainly not new to Chilean game developer ACE Team. Their game catalogue features titles like “Zeno Clash”, which I reviewed before; and when a friend of mine asked whether we want to play “Rock of Ages” against one another, I knew that it would be an unusual experience from the ACE Team logo alone. The developer themselves state that they try to break the mold, which they have certainly succeed in with the Tower Defense Racing game that “Rock of Ages” provides, a combination of genres that at first hearing sounds like it would work like water and oil in terms of mixing together. Well, I finished the game and I am happy to tell you that it works quite well; but if you are interested I plan on going into further detail in the article that follows.

The Videogame Corner: Eden Rising

Game: Eden Rising
Developer: Nvizzio Creations, Meridian4
Genre: Tower Defense/Action-Adventure
Released: 2018 (PC)

Our Discord group constantly searches for games that we can play together; and as I have said back in the “Gunfire Reborn” article, that is not as easy as its sounds. With various players in the group refusing to give certain genres a go, we often have to work with what kind of fits the bill for everyone. Cue “Eden Rising”, a Tower Defense game of all things that had one major argument going for it: It’s free. Well, at least to a certain extend since it will ask you for some money to unlock the full content after a certain amount of time. But with the only commitment to the title being time, we all downloaded “Eden Rising” one Wednesday evening and gave the thing a go. So, as yet another gaming-related article for Blaugust 2022, here are my thoughts on the game.

The Videogame Corner: Duel Princess

Game: Duel Princess
Developer: Qureate
Genre: Tower Defense, Card Game
Releases: 2022 (PC)

I have not talked about a videogame featuring playing cards for quite a while, haven’t I? Well, time to change that; and in what better way to do that than talking about the fanservice-ladened videogame genre-mix that is “Duel Princess”? The quality of the artwork combined with the fact that there are cards and deck building being used as one of the major gameplay elements caught my attention, but I would be lying if I said that I had any idea of what to expect from the title. But sometimes you can be positively surprised by games that you go in completely blind, so I sat down, invested a few hours into the title, and can now give you an idea of what to expect from “Duel Princess” after fully completing the game.