Rocket Knight (Xbox 360)

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Description

Rocket Knight is a 2.5D platformer and a reboot of the Rocket Knight series from the nineties, with the titles Rocket Knight Adventures and Sparkster. Players control Sparkster, a jet pack-powered opossum through levels with different themes. The game is set in Ethorn, in the kingdom Zephyrus. Fifteen years after the events of the previous game Sparkster leads a quiet farming life with his wife and kid when the mountain wolves suddenly attack with warships. Sparkster once vowed to protect the kingdom at all costs, but was disappointed when the king made an alliance with the Devotindos of the Pig Empire, who once attacked the kingdom. Regardless of the decisions the king made in the past, Sparkster immediately equips his gear and once again will defend the kingdom. It also marks the return of his rivalry with Axel, who likes to hinder Sparkster's progress and attempts to take the credit for his victories.

Aside from the graphical overhaul Rocket Knight also borrows some gameplay elements from the previous games and expands upon them. Sparkster has a number of basic movement options that allow him to jump and glide on rails. Much more important is the rocket pack that allows him to burst into the air in different directions, ricocheting off walls and attacking at the same time. Using this depletes a burst meter that takes some time to refill, except for the ice levels where it can only be restored using power-ups or by standing next to fire. These rocket bursts are needed to move around the levels and in later parts of the game it requires precise timing to quickly travel between platforms. A rocket burst can also be complemented with a burst drill by double tapping, making Sparkster break through walls. Burst assist can be used to hover temporarily in the air.

Next to the basic attacks with his sword, Sparkster can use burst to engage enemies, using burst shot to launch a bolt of energy, burst vortex to whirl on the spot with his sword and rail spin to attack when hanging on a rail. Many objects can be destroyed and some enemy projectiles can be reflected. Most of the levels follow regular platform gameplay with checkpoints and level bosses, but there are also a number of flying levels where Sparkster flies permanently into the air at a fixed speed and the game is turned into a horizontally-scrolling shooter. One of the later levels also has a vertically-scrolling section in a chasm and these later levels also put much more focus on the platform element and quick reflexes rather instead of merely attacking enemies.

During the levels Sparkster can pick up hearts to restore energy, collect diamonds and extra lives. When all lives are used up, a number of continues are available, but at the cost of having to restart the level. The main Arcade mode follows the story and afterwards these levels become available in the Free Play mode. Similar to the older titles in the series Sparkster can unlock new outfits, such as Gold Sparkster and Axel's gear. High scores and completion times for both individual stages and full Arcade modes are ranked in global leaderboards.

Screenshots

There are no Xbox 360 screenshots for this game.

There are 24 other screenshots on file for other versions of this game.

Part of the Following Group

• Rocket Knight series

User Reviews

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The Press Says

Xboxdynasty (XD)	May 18, 2010	8.6 out of 10	86
GameSpot	May 19, 2010	8 out of 10	80
4Players.de	May 12, 2010	80 out of 100	80
IGN	May 12, 2010	7.5 out of 10	75
Quebec Gamers	May 24, 2010	7 out of 10	70
Eurogamer.net (UK)	May 07, 2010	6 out of 10	60
Thunderbolt Games	Jun 28, 2010	5 out of 10	50
Jeuxvideo.com	May 21, 2010	9 out of 20	45

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Trivia

There is no trivia on file for this game.

Related Web Sites

• Konami: Rocket Knight (product page on the publisher's website)
• Wikipedia: Rocket Knight (article in the open encyclopedia)