Poor, poor, poor attempt at an interactive movie
The interactive movie genre is one which got a lot of attention with the introduction of CD technology but it's one which suffers mostly from shallow gameplay and dodgy acting, something which unfortunately plagues this rather poor game. It's an arcade-style shooter that follows closely in the footsteps of Mad Dog McCree but translates the action to 1920s America at the height of the Prohibition when gangsters ruled the streets. The game story unfolds through a series of hammily acted scenes as the player sets out to discover who killed Johnny Rock, a singer of dubious talent and which basically involves cringing at the poorly written dialogue and cheap looking sets and occasionally blasting away at the various gangsters who pop up from behind the scenery while avoiding the innocents. Unfortunately, that's about all there is to the game and it all turns out to be a complete waste of time. While on-rails shooters like Operation Wolf and House of the Dead provide plenty of blasting thrills and challenge, Johnny Rock is completely devoid of anything of interest. The production values are so low that everything just looks embarrassing (although the actors just look embarrassed), with hokey dialogue that makes Van Damme movies look like Shakespeare and costumes and sets that are straight out of a high school production of Bugsy Malone. This could be forgiven if the shooting was much fun but this aspect doesn't fare any better as it is so simplistic it's more akin to an old time theme park attraction than a video game. The only reason to play this is for some peculiar interest in terrible games but if you have better appreciation of your time, stay well clear of Johnny Rock.
