Slimes - in the world of Dragon Quest they are the fodder of beginning adventurers in the early stages of the role-playing level grind, and of little importance in the grand scheme of things. But the slimes in Dragon Quest have always been an icon for gamers fond of this series, so it seems only fitting that these cute blue creatures finally get the recognition they deserve. Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime does just that but it does it in its own unique way that DS gamers will find very compelling and fun.
Rocket Slime tells the tale of Rocket, a slime that managed to survive the destruction of his home town and a mass kidnapping of his kinsfolk at the hands of an insidious race called the Plobs. What's a slime to do but fight back, and so Rocket sets out on an adventure to free the citizens of Boingburg, rebuild the devastated Boingburg and defeat this evil army of cute simple and multi-tailed critters.
Rocket is one of those accidental heroes, who just happens to be at the right place at the right time doing the wrong thing. His moment of mischief proves to be enough to confuse his less than intelligent enemies, who mistake him for a worm and leave him alone. Being the last slime free, Rocket sets out to collect his kinsmen and beat the Plobs at their own game.
Rocket Slime combines some interesting game elements and a cute light story to create a very casual but fun game experience on the DS. These elements include collection gameplay, some platforming, some light role-playing, strategy (think Scorched Earth) and lots and lots of action.
The action part of the game is pretty straightforward. Rocket uses a stretching method not unlike a rubber band to snap at his enemies and send them flying in the air. This is accomplished by holding the using the cross and hold the A button. Rocket can stretch and then aim in what direction he wants to go by letting go of the A button. This attack has a couple of consequences. The first and more obvious is that it sends enemies and objects flying, which can then be "caught." The other thing it does is allow you to carry that object if you catch it. Objects that you catch can be collected by either carrying them into town or using a cart. Carts are everywhere in the world of Rocket Slime, so finding one and throwing your catch onto it is pretty easy.
Of course Rocket can also use the objects he's carrying as weapons by throwing them. Smart players will figure out that there' some neat attacks you can initiate by "juggling" a carried object with a captured enemy near some sort of solid structure like a wall. This causes you to continually catch both objects, which collide in the process multiple times. Enemies can be "killed" in the traditional sense by hitting them a lot and the juggling method is the quickest means to that end.
There's also a lot of platforming in the game but it is pretty straightforward and casual enough so that you won't go nuts. You'll find yourself climbing up and down ropes, jumping, shooting yourself and other objects out of cannons and other likeminded activities to move forward in the game. All this work will lead you to a boss battle or two, with the bulk of the action involving a very special vehicle that you'll use to take the fight to those dirty Plobs.
Before we get into that, we should mention the interface, which works pretty well on the DS. The top screen on the DS is used mostly for informational purposes. Players can see what objects and monsters they've collected so far (objects are used as ammo for your vehicle), how much gold they have, how many slimes they've freed and what mail they've received. Every time you save a slime and make it safely home, they send you an email. These emails contain recipes (for combing objects at a special location in the game which we won't name) and various gifts. Usually these consist of ammo for that special vehicle we keep mentioning.
And what is that vehicle? It's a tank! This tank is used to battle other tanks you encounter along the way occupied by Plobs, crazy cats and other cute belligerent enemies. Each tank has an upper and lower cannon that the player must continually load from ammo shoots scattered on the upper and lower decks. You collect the ammo just like anything else in the game and then "toss" it into the canon. That action takes place on the lower screen of the DS and you can see the results of your endeavors on the top of the screen. The combat reminds me of scorched earth but in a more frantic real-time manner. The object of these battles is to bring the enemy tank's hit points to zero.
This can be tricky because you have to know when to fire each canon offensively and defensively. You might fire one canon hoping to get a hit, while firing the other to negate the objects hurtling towards you. So this gameplay, though simple, makes for some fun strategic and tactical game moments.
