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Rocks

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 29 / 29
Date: November 29, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Those slimes from the Dragon Quest series get themselves a game, but unlike usual entries in the franchise, it's not a RPG. Instead, Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime plays like a cross between Zelda and Advanced Wars, especially with its puzzle-heavy over-world exploration, and epic tank battles. It's easy to dismiss this as a kid's game due to its cartoony presentations, but upon contact, you'll find Rocket Slime a surprisingly deep adventure that will require at least 30 hours of your time to engage - that is, if you intend to fully explore all the secrets and side missions beyond the main storyline.

Rocket Slime is set in the kingdom of Slimenia (geddit?), where the hosts of slimy characters reside. The once peaceful land was soon invaded by a group of monsters known as the Plobs, and its inhabitants were "slime-napped" from the city of Boingburg. Rocket, the son of a warrior in the kingdom, escaped the ordeal, and soon embarked on an adventure to rescue all the 100 captured slimes. The journey sees the little warrior exploring seven locations in Slimenia, each filled with a designated numbers of slimes to rescue. Some of these slimes are easy to get to, but many others will require Rocket to solve puzzles, defeat enemies, down bosses, and even engage in tank battles before they show themselves.

Tank battles are refreshing inclusions into an otherwise generic adventure game. While the "adventure" element of Rocket Slime is interesting enough (solving puzzles like unlocking doors and such), it's the tank battles that will keep you going on and on in Rocket's bid to rescue his family and friends. Each of the seven locations consists of a certain number of tank fights, and Rocket will have to use whatever ammunition at his disposal to reduce the HP of these opponent tanks to zero. That's not the end to a fight though, because reducing a tank to zero HP only serves to open up its engine room, where the "heart" of the tank rests. Rocket will then have to infiltrate the tank, break whatever last line of defence it has, before landing a final blow at its "heart" to finish the fight.

I mentioned earlier that these tank battles remind me of Advanced Wars, but of course, the affairs in Rocket Slime happen very much faster due to their real-time nature. Some time into the game, Rocket can add members to his tank crew. This is where the strategy part of these battles comes in. Rocket can choose from a total of 32 members, but for each battle, he can only use three of them. Some of these members will offer their help upon being rescued, but others will take more convincing (meaning side quests, duh!). Rocket can also add monsters to his helpers list, but he has to collect enough numbers of these enemies before they're willing to help. Each of these members has unique abilities. Some are experts in loading cannons. Some are good at keeping enemies out of Rocket's premises. Some can even infiltrate enemy tanks, sabotage their engine, steal their ammos, and even take out their commander. Depending on the situation, Rocket may have to switch between crew members to fully exploit enemies' weaknesses.

Beyond the rescue of the 100 slimes, Rocket will encounter several side quests. They are optional, and don't impact the flow of the story. However, some of these missions do reward the slime with some powerful ammunition, which will definitely come in useful in a tank battle. The Tank Masters Tournament, for example, pits Rocket and his crew against 13 powerful tank opponents in four different categories. Winning this tournament will unlock the Hero Sword, which is one of the most powerful ammos in the game. The game also has a handful of collection-based side quests, which will take up a large amount of time (often more than playing through the main quest once) to complete. One of these includes collecting all gold trophies of all enemies, which requires you to send 100 each of the game's 20 monsters back to the museum at Boingburg. Another is the collection of all 40 of the game's Alchemy Recipes, which allow Rocket to fully master the trick of combining items to make new ones. All these quests add much value to the game as the player will inadvertently find many things to do after fulfilling the mandatory rescue of 100 slimes. It's easy to enjoy doing them too, because the game's quirky presentations blend in perfectly with its quirky nature - kiddish but surprisingly detailed graphics, catchy and lively music, and dialogue that continuously offers puns so bad that they're actually funny simply speak volumes of the game's production values.

So, here we've it, a kids' game that actually rocks. The marriage between adventure and war game elements make Rocket Slime more than just a run of the mill money-milker bearing the Dragon Quest label. Action-adventure lovers will find this an endearing title that will keep them glued to their DS screens for weeks to come.

Incredibly Charming

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: June 11, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This may seem strange to you, but I can summarize this review in one sentence: If you like the cover art, you'll like the game.

Here's the thing - it's charming. It's full of puns, both terrible and great, often both at the same time. The gameplay is offbeat, the characters are funny, and the game was clearly made by people who loved making it. It has a certain ... verve that almost no other game has, and if there's something about that cover art that catches you - the bright colors, the irrepressible smile on the face of the blue blob leaping out at you - then you'll probably find things in the game that you'll like in a similar fashion.

If, on other other hand, you look at the cover art and think, "Man, that looks stupid," you probably won't like the game all that much. Which is sort of a pity, because it's really quite excellent. For me, it's one of the games that gets the most time in my DS, and despite not really using the touchscreen aspect of the system (save for "customizing" some artwork), it's a perfect game to pass a little time. Charming through and through.

More slime!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: November 18, 2006
Author: Amazon User

If you are looking for a fun game that does not take itself too seriously then this is the game to get. The tank battles in Rocket Slime are wonderfully designed and have a good amount of strategy involved. The main gameplay is somewhat like the SNES Zelda days in some sense, which is a very good thing in my book. The difficulty of the game is not too bad, so younger gamers will have no problem being successful with this title. Even after you complete the main quest there is quite a bit of stuff to collect, plus there is a tank tournament of sorts to win. I have not played multiplayer yet, but I would think head-to-head tank battles have to be some of the greatest multiplayer contests ever. I cannot recommend this game enough.

Rocket Slime is the best adventure on the DS yet

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: October 19, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Last November's Dragon Quest VIII initiated the series' return to western shores and flew off of store shelves, offering dozens upon dozens of hours of traditional RPG gameplay and a Final Fantasy XII demo disc to boot. With that game's popularity, it's no surprise to me that SquareEnix has stuck around in 2006 to offer American gamers two spin-offs of their Dragon Quest/Dragon Warrior series. The first of these two spin-offs, with the latter Dragon Quest Swords coming to the Wii in November, is Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime. This is a DS game that captures familiar Zelda-like gameplay with its own cutesy charm and intuitive control style, and it does all of this very well, rounding off one of the best DS carts to come out in 2006.

As its name implies, Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime puts you in the...er...goo of a slime, one of the Dragon Quest series' most iconic monsters. Rather than serve as experience fodder as they have in previous Dragon Quest games, the slimes in this game are friendly and peaceful as they go about their slimy lives in Slimenia. One day, the Plob, an evil gang of monsters, wreaks havoc on Slimenia and captures all of the slimes. Rocket, the slime you'll take control of, remains untouched. It's up to you and your bouncy virtual avatar to save the slimes and stop the Plob. The story, while not totally original or inventive in itself, gives way to cute dialogue, funny cut-scenes, and more slime puns than you could ever imagine. In short, the story isn't the greatest but the comedy that stands above it does more than a fair amount of entertaining, and it would be a sin for me to ruin any of the humor for you.

Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime plays a lot like the classic 2D Legend of Zelda games. I'll just get that out of the way as quickly as possible. Don't expect a 2D epiphany while playing through this one-anyone who's touched one of those older games will be familiar with how Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime works. It would be a travesty to write it off as a copycat game, though, and it's not-Rocket Slime introduces a lot of intuitive and innovative things to the mix. While you don't use the stylus or touch screen at all, Rocket Slime has a handling perk-you only use the directional pad to move Rocket, and you'll interact with and attack things in the environment with the A button. Holding down the A button in combination with pressing a direction on the d-pad will elastically stretch out your slime, and letting go of the button will send him "Elasto Blasting" forward, knocking anything in his path into the air. By Elasto Blasting, you can "catch" objects or enemies and throw them around with the B button. This simple mechanic is what 60% of Rocket Slime consists of.

It's this simple control that will ease gamers into the gameplay, but the design of the game goes much further. Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime, like the Legend of Zelda games before it, has simple control mechanics but a level design that will sometimes have you scratching your head and trying hard to figure out just what to do next. You'll interact with objects in the environment, and you'll do things like go underground through water wells and fire cannons to proceed through the environment. Anything that is found (objects, items, enemies) can also be thrown onto rail cars that are located throughout each level. This is useful for tank battles, and before I lose track and go on a tangent, I must discuss this second gameplay feature. Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime takes a bite out of Advance Wars' book and combines dual-screen battles with its adventure portions. These battles, initiated at certain times and locations throughout the game, are a lot of fun and are the more involving parts of Rocket Slime's gameplay. The items found throughout the world are used as ammunition, and you'll defend your Schlieman tank from other creatively-designed (and hilariously named) enemy tanks. These portions of the game can be very intense, as you'll fire off ammo in real-time by doing what Rocket does best-Elasto Blasting into objects, carrying them to your cannons, and throwing them into the cannons. Once the enemy tank is weakened, Rocket can travel over to the enemy tank and sabotage its engines to end the battle. These tank battles are almost always exciting, they're always fun, and they're my favorite part of the game. They've even got their own fully-featured multiplayer mode, as Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime supports the Nintendo DS multiple game card multiplayer functions.

The tank battles get much deeper about halfway through the game when you start finding bigger, more powerful items that serve as ammo; not to mention you can upgrade your tank's health meter to make it sturdier in those long-winded conflicts. Besides the ammo and health upgrades, you can actually recruit friendly slimes that have specific in-battle strengths and weaknesses. For example, Hooly, one of your slime friends, will fire himself at incoming projectiles, knocking them out of the air. Other characters will run around throughout the Schlieman tank, collecting ammo and firing away at enemies. Some characters even play a defensive role and protect the tank from intruding Plob monsters. All of these abilities are controlled by AI, but it's a great feature nonetheless, and adds a lot of depth and strategy to the already-exciting tank battles.

Visually, Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime is, again, very similar to Legend of Zelda games. It has its own charm, though-it's very bright and colorful, and everything, even the Plob, looks bouncy and happy. In fact, I'd say this is one of the most ridiculously cutesy and happy games I've ever found myself being gripped by. The sprites are big, bright, and perfectly animated. Visually, you couldn't ask for more from a top-down 2D adventure game. The sound is appropriate, with cutesy music that never gets annoying. The tank battle music is fitting to the gameplay, and in hand is more reminiscent of Advance Wars.

Overall, Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime doesn't go unscathed. Though there is a lot of depth to be found in the tank battle system, and the game has an undeniable pick-up-and-play feel to it, Rocket Slime ends shortly around the dozen-hour mark. The lack of WiFi multiplayer and downloadable play hurts, but Rocket Slime does have a multiplayer mode that is loaded with features like playable tanks, characters, and settings. All-in-all, for anything bad I could say about Rocket Slime, I could say about ten good things about it. As if Rocket Slime needed another piece of proof, that's a sign of a good, fun game; one of the better handheld titles this year. If your DS has been dormant since New Super Mario Bros. and Tetris DS stole the show earlier this year, Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime will definitely satiate your appetite for handheld gaming until Final Fantasy III attacks this November and Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass sets sail next spring.

Cute fun

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: December 03, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Dragon Quest: Rocket Slime is a cute, fun game for the DS. Although most of its predecessors in the series are RPGs, this is an action-adventure game in the style of the older Zeldas and such--a 2-D game with an overhead view.

DQ: Rocket Slime looks a bit like it was a GBA game ported to the DS, but the graphics don't detract from the game one bit. The main plot is that you're supposed to save 100 of your slime friends kidnapped and hidden throughout the world, but you're really traveling around looking for items to use as ammo in your giant tanks. The dungeons and battles are fairly easy, but incredibly fun--who wouldn't enjoy sending missiles, arrows, 100-ton weights, empty treasure chests, giant swords, and your slime friends sailing out of a cannon into the enemy's tank?

If you're looking for a fun, easy game to play to pass the time, or if you're just in love with these cute, iconic slimes like I am, Rocket Slime is a good game to get.

Surprisingly enjoyable and fun

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: March 21, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Dragon Quest is probably the most popular RPG series on the planet next to something called Final Fantasy; and with this entry for the DS, the RPG series turns out a fun and enjoyable spin-off that even those unfamiliar with the series can get some enjoyment out of. Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime finds you taking control of the little blue slime blobs that have appeared in every Dragon Quest game, and you are on a mission to save your friends before it's too late. Taking advantage of the DS' stylus and touch screen support, Rocket Slime provides a great amount of fun via the slime mechanics and use of tanks in combat. Not to mention that the game itself looks great and is popping with color and detailed animations. Longtime Dragon Quest veterans will recognize many characters, sounds, and monsters from the long running series as they progress through their quest, which clocks in at a decent enough length, but hardcore RPG fans will be disappointed at the lack of difficulty that can make your quest all the more shorter. This is Rocket Slime's most glaring flaw, but the good definitely outweighs the bad here. The battles are fun to play and watch, and the multiplayer elements are a welcome addition as well. All in all, Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime is a game that you can't really go wrong with if you enjoy RPG action on your DS, and longtime fans of the series will definitely enjoy this.

Rocket Slime is a great new addition to the DQ world

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: September 20, 2006
Author: Amazon User

After a few hours of playing this game I am very happy to have bought Rocket Slime. The game has some old school elements that Dragon Quest fans will pick up on right away along with some new things as well that new fans will enjoy. The game play is cute and very entertaining as you control one of Dragon Quest's most famous monsters, a slime. The slime's name is Rocket and it is his job to save 100 of his townspeople who are also slimes from the "Plob". The Plob is a mafia type group run by Don Clawleone.
The control of the game is fresh and entertaining and takes only a few minutes to get acquainted with the basic controls of Rocket. Rocket is able to pick up objects to throw them, smash into them, and also float around. Rocket can also unlock and explore a cute little world filled with creatures.
Another really fun aspect to the game is the Tank battles. These battles are very entertaining as you take your tank, The Schlieman Tank and battle various members of the Plob on your quest to save your fellow slimes. You use ammo that you collected from dungeons and such and control Rocket while shooting 2 cannons at your enemy. The tank battles also use items you have found and or created in the game using alchemy to combine items into more powerful items. The tank battles also have a fun multiplayer option to battle your friends and their own tanks.
The graphics in Rocket Slime are not pushing the envelope for DS capabilities but and great none the less. This game is perfectly suited for the DS and I could not imagine this game being capable on any other system.
Sound/music in Rocket slime is very cute and upbeat. Fans of the series will notice little chimes and sounds from previous DQ games. The sound does a good job in playing on the feel of the moment and is the type of music that you will catch yourself humming though out the day!
Overall the game is very entertaining and a great addition to the Dragon Quest series. You meet lots of cute characters, the story is filled with a little bit of humor and subtle clichés, and the look of the game is a welcome addition on the DS. If you are a fan of the Dragon Quest series, Zelda (Yes I did say Zelda) or just looking for a great little adventure game you owe it to yourself to pick this game up! On a score from 1 to 10 on this game, this game gets a solid 9.0.

Simply Fun-ny

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: September 27, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Rocket Slime is ball of laughter and fun. It is full of puns and goofiness. Throughout the game is silly dialog amongst members of the Plob who act like well intentioned idiots. The music during these encounters shifts to emphasize the goofiness of the Plob gang trying to act cool. At various points in the game, you battle in tanks. The titles and subtitles of the tanks are puns and comedic references that pertain to American culture and Square Enix games. Even the sound effects of the main character, Rocket, amuse the ears. I love the "boing" sound that Rocket makes when bouncing around. The colorful cartoon style of the graphics completes the package of emphasizing the light-heartedness of Rocket Slime.

This game is a spin-off title of the Dragon Quest series, which are normally RPGs. However, Rocket Slime differs from the series because it is an action adventure title. Unlike most Dragon Quest games, Rocket Slime can be conquered within far less than 100 hours. It took me 28 hours to beat the game, and most people complete it within 20 hours. The straightforwardness of Rocket Slime hinders replay value. Another drawback is that starting a new game requires erasing the old game file, first. Folks wanting to start over, but keep all past progress saved, are out of luck.

I like the challenge presented in Rocket Slime. It is neither too hard nor too easy. Enemy movements during the adventure portions of the game are predictable enough to dodge their attacks. After clearing considerable portions of a level, you can jump into warp holes to open short cuts to earlier parts of the stage. This makes it easy to save the game & quickly return to the same point at a later time. At various locations, Rocket finds fruit that increase his max life. Just like in Zelda, hearts represent life. Unlike Zelda, Rocket doesn't use a bunch of tools during his adventure. Rocket uses his body as a weapon. Also, most enemies don't hurt him unless their attacks hit him. In general, it takes three physical attacks to kill an enemy, but an even quicker way to take care of a baddy is to drop it onto the train to Slimenia. He does that by first ramming into an enemy. This bounces it into the air. If Rocket catches it, he then carries it on his head. Rocket can carry up three monsters/items on his head at one time. He can throw the bottom item/monster at any time, and he can rearrange their order with a shoulder button. Some items give Rocket special abilities when he carries them on his head. For example, a SlimeKnight allows him to fight with its sword, and cloak makes him invisible to enemies. When Rocket throws an item/monster at an enemy, it inflicts damage. However, tossed enemies resume attacking Rocket once he no longer carries them on his head.

The challenge in Rocket Slime is greatest during tank battles, which require careful planning ahead of time. You pick all the ammo to use in your tank, and you decide which three characters would accompany you for tank battles. You acquire ammo during the adventure portion of the game by sending various items home via the train to Slimenia. Better ammo can be created through the use of alchemy. The characters that join you during tank battles help by loading ammo into cannons, launching themselves at the enemy tank, sneaking into the enemy tank & sabotaging its weapons system, healing your party, etc. Each character can do one or two of these things, hence the importance of careful planning ahead of time.

At some point, you can participate in tournament in which you fight other tanks, but you get to pick any tank to use during battles. You could also compete against friends in tank battles. However, folks like me that don't have friends close by are out of luck, because there is no wi-fi for multiplayer battles. Other bonuses in Rocket Slime including a surfing mini-game and paintings you can draw on. In the surfing mini-game, the goal is to collect as many coins as possible within a limited time frame. When drawing over paintings, you use the touching screen to draw directly onto it. (That is probably the only time the touch screen is used.)

Rocket Slime may not make much use of touching the touch screen, but the game makes good use of the dual screens visually. During the adventure portion of the game, the top screen serves as a menu, while the action appears on the bottom screen. During tank battles, the top screen shows the ammo being launched from each of the tanks, while the bottom screen shows Rocket and the area he is at. You manually load ammo at the bottom screen, but use the top screen to strategize on which cannon and ammo to use. Not using the touch screen much keeps the game simple enough for practically anybody to play.

Simple, clean and hectic fun!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: October 09, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game on a whim after seeing a preview for it, thinking "What's the worse that could happen?" Unfotunately the worse that happened is that a good chunk of my free time has been devoted to this game. Most of the time, it's Zelda-esque adventuring and item collecting, but embedded within that are the delicious tank battles that propel this game to greatness. A highly recommended DS title!

Way to repetitive

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 5 / 10
Date: March 31, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I'm writing this review simply because I was shocked to see this game had a 5 star review. This game is fun... at first. However, you begin to realize that the game has you doing the same thing over and over again. body slam enemies and items and throw them onto a train for stocking, or into a cannon for ammo. I played this game for about 5 days. The first day I really enjoyed It, and found it both engaging and different. By the second day I was wondering when it was going to start to get more challenging. and by the fifth day I had beaten it and was so sick of the repetitive game play that I had no interest in the tank master mode or any other replay value and returned it to the store. I think children under the age of 10 will get alot out of this game, and it might even be a good introduction to the RPG genre. Anyone looking for a game with substance will be thoroughly dissapointed.

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