Elasto-Blast From the Past: It’s Rocket Slime!
Released: December 1st, 2005
Developer/Publisher: Square Enix
Price: $14.99 or less
Verdict: Classic DS Title.
Pros: Cute story, flawless game-play, addictive as hell!
Cons: SO MANY PUNS!!
I bet you’re asking yourself right now, why the hell is Jaden reviewing a DS game that came out in 2005. Well, since I bought this game on its release date, I’ve played the game to 100% completion seven times. That, at least to me, makes this one of the best titles on the Nintendo DS.
If you’ve ever played a single Dragon Quest title, you know what the blue slimes are. They’re the first enemy you’ll see in every game, and they’re extremely weak. Also, they have gigantic grins on their faces that keep smiling no matter how many times you whack them on the head. Rocket Slime lets you play as one of these lovable baddies.
The game opens in Slimenia. Rocket and his friends are playing in the castle courtyard when Rocket blows what’s known as the Warrior Flute. Suddenly the town is attacked by Plattapunks and a giant tank known as the Plattapanzer. Rocket swallowed the flute, squishing him into the shape of a baseball bat. The plattapunks raid the town and kidnap all the slimes, leaving Rocket behind because, “ain’t never seen no slime that looked like that!” Now, it’s up to Rocket to try and save his friends and family.
The game play in this game is delightfully simple. Press the A button to jump, and press it in the air to spred out and glide down slowly. Press and hold it, then push a direction to stretch out– then release the A button to “elasto-blast.” Using the blast, you can knock baddies and items up into the air, and you can catch them on your head. Rocket is pretty strong and can carry three at a time. Throughout all of the areas, there are trains they run through. If you throw anything onto these, it’ll send them back to town. All the slimes you’re trying to save are locked in chests throughout the countryside. By blasting the chests open, you can free them, then send them back to town on the train. Each time you save one, they right you a thank you letter and give you an item for later. My favorite letter came from Peewee, “P-Peewee doesn’t like chests! It was scary being all alone in the dark. Peewee went wee wee and it was all wet. But don’t tell anyone. It’s a secretion.” Yes, this game is filled with amazing amounts of silly jokes and horrible puns. That’s half the fun.
A little ways into the game, you’ll unearth the Schlieman Tank. This is the key in taking down the Platapanzer and all other kinds of tanks you’ll see throughout the game. In the tank battles, you’ll use items you found earlier in the game to fire out of cannons at the enemy tank. If ammo collides, it’ll be knocked out of the air. You’ll also be able to bring slimes that you save into your tank as helpers. If you can knock your opponent’s tank down to zero HP, you’ll be able to go inside and blow up the heart of the tank. At the end of each of these battles, you’ll get a nifty new item for your tank, and you’ll free another slime to send back home. It’s a bit hard to describe these battles, so I taped one to share. This should make this a bit easier to understand:
About half-way through the game, you’ll also find a neat friend who helps you combine items through a process called “alchemy” to make even better weapons for your tank. This will having you going back to levels to harvest weapons over and over again to keep making better stuff.
Rocket Slime really brings gaming back to it’s perfect 2-D roots and adds some great new gameplay mechanics that haven’t really been seen before. It also varies up gameplay by having two totally different types of play (the countryside and the tank battles). The entire game only takes between 15-18 hours to finish, so it’s not one that’s going to eat up all your time, but it’s perfect for a random distraction with some awesome replay value. Give it a try; I don’t think you’ll be disappointed!
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