Game: Rochard

Platform: PS3 (PSN)

Publisher: SOE

Developer: Recoil Games

ESRB: T

Genre: Puzzle/platformer

Players: 1

What's Hot: Awesome physics-based puzzle solving, solid platforming, fun theme, structure is reminiscent of Portal

What's Not: Combat is underwhelming

---

Review by: Danielle Riendeau

Rochard is a perfect example of why the Unity engine is such a boon for smaller developers. The tool empowers studios like Recoil Games to create wonderful things –such as this smart, almost Portal-esque 2D puzzle-platformer with fluid graphics and awesome physics-based gameplay. It’s almost certainly a “hidden gem” in this crowded fall season, and it absolutely deserves your attention.

The game puts you in the boots of eponymous space miner John Rochard, a blue-collar dude with a southern drawl and the desire to live to see his next paycheck. He mines asteroids for a living, and the rock he and his team currently occupy has a big old secret, wreaking all sorts of havoc and causing a few local thugs to get interested in the real estate. There’s a pleasing “western in space” meets the “blue collar in space” vibe of the early scenes of Alien which permeates the game, adding a huge dose of personality to the proceedings.

While the world is rendered in 3D, gameplay is a strictly 2D affair. John controls like a larger, bulkier Mario, with an iffy jump and a quick trot, but your almost-omnipresent ability to lighten gravity allows you to make incredible leaps. Your G-lifter tool (it works like a combination scanner/tractor beam/gravity gun) is core to the game, allowing you to manipulate switches and move crates around, useful for puzzle solving. You can place things gently or throw objects around, with a helpful on-screen indicator of your arc. You can also use your gravity shifting powers to send objects sailing, and bounce them around the environment.

You manipulate your beam with the R2 button and right thumb stick, while you control John with the left. Once you get the hand of shifting gravity and slinging boxes on the fly, you start feeling less like a miner with a beer gut and more like a physics-manipulating magician, flying through the air and sending boxes hurtling through force fields with the greatest of ease.

Structurally, the game is a bit like Portal – each section is a self-contained challenge in itself, a puzzle that needs to be sorted before you can move on. It works well here, breaking up the action into discrete (and check-pointed) segments. The challenge level feels just right – and like Valve’s masterpiece, playing through the puzzles has the delightful side effect of making you feel smarter.

Graphically, Rochard is a charmer. It toes the line between cartoony and realistic, with big, boldly colored environments and bright, jovial characters. The music is excellent as well, especially the Firefly- wannabe title song. Even the voice acting is good, and the designers wisely chose to keep the tone nice and light. In fact, the only real misstep is in the combat, which feels sloppy and chaotic in an otherwise reasonably precise, methodical game. It’s fun to play around with the physics and explore solutions, not so much to wrestle with a control scheme suited for puzzling, not shooting baddies.

This is a charming, incredibly well designed title with a truckload of replayability (still a rarity for smaller downloadable games). Don’t miss out on this in the glut of “holiday” releases.

Danielle Riendeau is a regular contributor to GameShark and is the cohost of Jumping the Shark , GameShark.com's official podcast and is co-founder of the gaming blog No High Scores. She's also a serious workout warrior.

Questions or comments? We'd love to hear from you .