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33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Rocks, November 29, 2006
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
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.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Incredibly Charming, June 10, 2007
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
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.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
More slime!, November 18, 2006
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
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.
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by BradyGames
