When you hear ‘made by LucasArts’, what is the
first thing that comes to your mind, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, or something
along that vein? Like many developers they are trying to break out of the mold
that they have been established in for so many years, and create a new
franchise. The result of this new endeavor is called RTX Red Rock. Will this
game be a game to be remembered in the history books with LucasArts’ other fine
franchises, or will it be remembered as something else? Read on to find out!
The Earth is still recovering from alien attacks. The aliens are unknown
species, and no one knows where they came from or why they are invading. The
creatures have been given the name L.E.D. (Light-Emitting Demons), because
instead of communicating with sound, they communicate with light. The battles
have been brief but each side has suffered severe causalities. Since then, all
of the invading forces have been killed or are in hiding. All of a sudden the
radio contact with the colony at Mars have been cut off, and the cause were the
aliens. With this knowledge the military have sent the man best “armed” to find
out what is going on, and to see if anything can be done. The military sent
Eugene Wheeler, who has been trained in ranger and reconnaissance work.
Wheeler lost his left eye and right arm on his last mission, and to compensate
for this he has synthetic replacements. This eye has four different modes, which
allow him to see things that ordinary people cannot see. The first is a
Thermoscan (infrared) that allows him to see hidden enemies in the dark.
Naviscan allows him to see maps of the surrounding area. Bioscan (ultraviolet)
allows him to detect foreign life forms that are hidden from the surrounding
area. His last one is Electroscan that shows electrical malfunctions in various
systems.
There are different parts for his right prosthetic arm as well. The first is a
wrench that is used to assemble some machines and open stuck panels. The
grappling hook allows Wheeler to reach places that he normally cannot reach. The
plasma cutter is a great attachment as it allows players to cut open different
things. It is a joy to stun different items and power panels, and the taser
attachment will let players do that. The last attachment is the catapult that
allows players to launch different explosive items.
To help players out on each of their missions, they will have access to I.R.I.S.
(Independent Removable Information System). This is a portable computer module
with a human interface. Players will need this because at times they will not be
able to get past certain missions unless they reply on I.R.I.S.’s help. There
are many other items that players must use to pass each level such as pressure
suits, guns, and at times even vehicles.
RTX Red Rock is rated T for Teen for blood, mild language, suggestive themes and
violence. The game requires 110 KB of your memory card for saves.
Gameplay: 7.5
While the idea of having different vision modes to look at your environment
was a good idea, the implementation of it was not. The worst thing about it is
the map. It can be really hard to get to the map while you are being fired upon.
Players literally have to cycle through the four vision modes, find the one with
the map, than press L2 to view the map, during this time you cannot move. This
was a poor decision, as at times, you might be running out of oxygen, while
getting fired upon, players really don’t have time to stop to figure out their
location. There are a lot of things to do in this game, but at times it seems
really scattered, meaning that LucasArts came up with a great idea, but it feels
like they didn’t fully realize their vision, and the gameplay reflects that.
Graphics: 7.3
RTX Red Rock looks pretty decent, the FMV segments have high production
values, and the main character has a high polygonal count, as well as nicely
textured. Each of the environments the player’s will transverse have a nice look
and feel to them, but it seems a little lacking. There are a lot of things the
developer could have done to flesh out the surface of Mars, such as a little
more variety and more interaction. The worst thing to befall this game is the
frame rate, at times it gets really horrible and distracting, while other times
the game runs pretty smooth.
Sound: 7.6
RTX Red Rock supports Dolby Surround Sound Pro Logic II, and it sounds nice,
if you have a system that supports it. The voices, in the cut screens and in
game, sound really nice, and distinct. The music that is in this game sounds
really good as well, giving it a really nice flare to many of the missions you
will go to. The sound effects are the weak part of this category, and it is a
shame because LucasArts has an enormous backlog of sound effects that they could
have used for this game. There is just a huge lack of variety, and the effects
we get sound really bland and drown out.
Difficulty: Easy
RTX Red Rock is pretty easy! The further you get into the game the harder it
will become, but you will be able to beat the game in less than 10 hours. The
most difficult thing is trying to look at the game map while playing or running
from enemy fire.
Concept: 7.5
For some reason there are a lot of space games, but none of them really take
place on the red planet that is closest to earth. If you think about it, with
all of the movies about Martians, you think that this would be a perfect
breading ground for some games. LucasArts tried to make a game that ties into
the theme of Mars, and while the idea was good, something was left out in the
execution of it.
Overall: 7.2
RTX Red Rock could have been so much more! The entire time I played this
game, it felt that it was a product that got rushed close to the end of its
development cycle, so a lot of things that should have been fixed were not. If
LucasArts only spent a few more months on this game, improving each of its
aspects, this could have been a summer blockbuster hit. Instead we are left with
another mediocre game that will get thrown in with the rest that are released
this summer. If nothing else, RTX Red Rock is definitely worth a weekend rental!
