Considering the colossal success of Geometry Wars, it's probably no surprise that there's a high amount of interest for Bizarre Creations' next XBLA title Boom Boom Rocket.
But apart from particle-spilling firework displays and a thumping electronic soundtrack Rocket has very little in common with the Arcade frontrunner. Essentially, it's a bit of a DDR clone with coloured arrows scrolling across the screen, reaching a horizontal line at the top where you're supposed to press the corresponding buttons and set off some pretty fireworks. All the while the camera is navigating a tranquil night time city scene, including Sydney Harbour and New York look-a-likes.
If you've ever spent minutes at a time staring at Geometry's Wars' hypnotic menu screen, you can probably guess that Boom Boom Rocket's firework displays are very, very pretty indeed. They're so dazzling in fact that Bizarre has even included a freestyle firework detonating mode, so you can lay back on the couch to please your pyromaniac desires in peace.
Upon picking up the pad and jumping in for the first time we found Bizarre's explosion-'em-up experience to be intense to say the least. We've never been the best DDR players in the world, but even without having to flail our limbs around like mentalists Boom Boom Rocket puts up a fairly high level of difficulty - though it certainly doesn't shy from letting you know when you're doing well.
The music on offer ranges from the camp (William Tell Overture remix!) to new electronic offerings from the same chap who scored the Project Gotham series.
As you improve your button matching skills your fireworks grow larger and more colourful, and the music as well gains extra layers and increases in tempo. Add to this a crowd of cheering and booing jeerers and we found Boom Boom Rocket to be an all-over more light-hearted affair than edgy music offerings like Frequency or Lumines.
Admittedly it wasn't often we were performing well in Boom Boom Rocket, but when we did creep above mediocrity the game became far more absorbing and, well, thrilling. Bizarre Creations wants to take you to that place called "the zone" and with its pretty fireworks and loud music it just might do it (unless you're really, really rubbish at button pressing).
Setting off massive colour explosions feels incredibly rewarding, and even when we were playing like complete rookies we felt compelled to carry on to see the next display.
Add to this the plethora of combos and score multipliers present in the game, and Boom Boom Rocket could turn out to be just as competitive and dazzling as Geometry Wars.
Before I start: Just when is Dancing Stage Universe (360) going to be available here? There are screenshots online, but little else annoyingly...This I thought was an ideal time to jump in to this series, but news is scarce on the PAL 360 version, it seems.
Regardless, I got Geo Wars almost as soon as I'd first prised myself away from Hexic when I installed my hard drive. But it's not a game I play so often. It's great fun, the visuals are terrific, music addictive, but...I have to concentrate on it too much! So it's not really such a casual game. With Boom Boom, I'm not being chased about the screen, I must instead merely keep button presses in time with music (and can use my own as well as those remixes provided), or, (and this is great to know about), just start a random interactive A/V jam, on a whim.
CVG, your comment regarding the difficulty staves off the concerns I had that it might be kept overly "accessible", which would have put me off.
If only some sort of calendar were available to see how upcoming Live Arcade releases would pan out...One a week's too long to wait really, if you're not into what's up. Under this, you could go weeks without buying (or trying) anything. I don't see how that's business savvy, as there's little danger of oversaturation at this time.
My thoughts exactly. Even Fantavision had the mode where you could just press random buttons and fill the screen with explosions....for no real reason.
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So it's not really such a casual game. With Boom Boom, I'm not being chased about the screen, I must instead merely keep button presses in time with music (and can use my own as well as those remixes provided), or, (and this is great to know about), just start a random interactive A/V jam, on a whim.
