Stay out of this cave
The idea of a sort of combination of shooter and racing game in a science fiction universe sounds kind of appealing and while Roketz shares some similarities with the likes of Subspace, it unfortunately turns out to be a frustrating and less than enjoyable experience. The concept is sound enough, placing players into a 360 degree scrolling world with two main gameplay modes to choose from, but where gravity plays a massive role in proceedings, as in the classics Asteroids and Thrust. The two modes here are a sort of deathmatch-style game where the objective is simply to duke it out with an opponent in a series of arenas, while zooming around in one of several hi-tech ships, each of which is armed with a number of equally flashy weapons. The other mode is more of a racer, where two players must speed around a course, passing checkpoints to complete laps while also making use of their weapons to even the odds a little. On paper at least, this sounds like it could be the makings of a decent, if unspectacular game. However, in reality Roketz is anything but decent. The visuals are distinctly average, and while this isn't a major drawback, the lack of personality or detail doesn't help matter much. A bigger problem though is the controls and the ship handling, which are a nightmare to get to grips with. Although this isn't meant to be a straightforward shooter and which requires greater skill to learn how to use gravity properly, it turns out to be immensely frustrating just trying to get around the map, something which is not helped by the overly challenging AI opponents which seem to take you down with ease and alarming regularity. If you're looking for a caveflier, stick with V-Wing or Zarathrusta.
