We have seen many events through history, from the time of Leonidas to Charlemagne, and Napoleon, and we have crushed those guys with a boulder. Rock of Ages combines tower defense mechanics and rolling ball mechanics (see: Marble Madness, Super Monkey Ball, etc.) to deliver an interesting take on five historical societies: Ancient Greek, Medieval, Renaissance, Rococo, and Goya.
The game’s single-player is a unique look at the myth of Sisyphus (of Greek mythology). He was punished by the gods and compelled to roll an immense boulder up a hill only to watch it roll back down and forced to repeat this for all eternity. Rock of Ages takes a different spin on the story. Instead of watching a boulder roll up and down a hill, you’ll be wreaking havoc on all of Greece. You’ll be taking on two sides of the pendulum; on offense players will be tasked with barreling through the enemy gates, and on defense the tower defense mechanic comes into play. For every enemy you crush you’ll earn money to build your defense against the enemy’s boulder. From catapults to stone towers, from cows to mammoths, a bevy of weapons can be used to form living roadblocks.
Unfortunately, the living roadblocks are the easiest things to avoid and even crush, so you’ll have to find other ways to protect your castle gate. Steering the giant boulder becomes difficult as you build momentum, fueling the fire of frustration. But the gameplay never seems to get stale as the game progresses, with levels themed appropriately to the time period you are playing in. A good chunk of the game is too twisty and feels too restrictive and limits you in the amount of speed and destruction you can cause. There are boss battles thrown at in after every time period, and these are a bit difficult to progress through. Each boss requires precision and timing to hit their weak spot and thus could give you quite a challenge, though each boss fight is certainly unique and funny despite its difficulty.
Let’s not forget the camera angles, the most frustrating part of the game. The camera is set to a third-person center view of your boulder. With this in mind, the camera feels a bit too claustrophobic when your boulder picks up momentum. Unfortunately, you cannot adjust these angles in the settings, so you are stuck with what you’re given throughout the game.
Rock of Ages holds some pleasant surprises, especially for those interested in Greek mythology. There are alternate modes like War mode, the game’s story mode as multiplayer. SkeeBoulder is a competitive mode that requires you to race down a lane to hit targets before landing in a skeeball-style board while attempting to gain the highest score. Time-based challenges, complete with online leaderboards, allow you to fly through each level as fast as you can to gain the fastest time.
Rock of Ages is simple in design and presentation and this is it’s greatest strength. The tower defense mechanic is probably the more interesting part of the game, while the ball mechanic could’ve used more time in development to fix those camera angles and momentum physics.
