Enjoyable arcade game from Mastertronic where you use QOAPM keys to move the Rockman spirte around a series of single-screen levels collecting all mushrooms as you go. You have a rather large hammer and in typical rockman behaviour, you like to hit things with it, namely blocks which could obstruct your access to mushrooms. Be careful with the hammer though, because you are also being chased by really quite wicked smiling faces that mean to devour you on sight and it's often probable that you will unleash the wrath of one if you hammer a nearby brick, opening a gap.
Levels are password based, making it nice for those who lack a snapshot capability.
The intro screen admittedly doesn't bode too well, looking like some cack-handed teenage attempt to impress mum with a beeper rendition of a rather irrelevant movement of Mozart's "Eine kleine Nachtmusik" accompanied by a rather headache-inducing flashing magenta on red chequerboard background. Personally I would've used something like Wagner on this one! Still I can't help but admire it for some reason.
Then we enter the entirely functional menu screen with a quite nice custom font and this bit is implemented just correctly. On entering the game you can't help but initially be impressed with the lovingly 8-bit feel in the colour and detail of the mushrooms, fatal skulls and other in game elements. It just looks great. The playability is also really good once you get the hang of it and stop accidentally running into skulls. The enemy sprite AI is seemingly very simple with a tendency to creep up on the player, with a good dollop of randomness thrown in for good measure.
Sometimes you can get a little exasperated at repeatedly getting caught by a smiling/chomping sprites, but if you allow yourself to rethink the route you are taking in the level you will see that you can be a little clever and often make things much easier for yourself. But, bear in mind there is a time limit.
Well, I just like this game as is obvious. I'm not a huge fan of many of the Mastertronic budget titles, but now and again they did come up with something a bit special and memorable like Rockman.
There's a YS review linked from the WoS infoseek entry, but I find myself disagreeing with it on a couple of counts. Firstly where it is stated this game is a "Manic Miner" clone. I don't think that is quite correct, I'd suggest it only has a very tenuous connection to that genre (collecting objects on each level), but Rockman is certainly no Technician Ted, the hammer implement and the fixed-grid movement make this a really different playing experience. Besides, Rockman can't jump. Secondly, the reviewer describes the game's graphics as "lousy". Clearly tastes differ, but I think the graphics are really good. Not technically brilliant, but enthusiastically drawn, surely. I like the attention to detail very much. I say give Mastertronic credit where it is due, this is a good one! But where the reviewer and I do agree is that this is an addictive title. It's very often tempting to keep coming back just to see "one more screen".
