Rotastic Review

Predictably, simple casual games like those found on mobile platforms like the iPhone/iPad and Android devices are making their way onto the console market. Enter Rotastic, a self-proclaimed addictive and innovative 2D arcade game promising “a huge dose of fun” while not “taking itself too seriously”. Those claims are interesting and worrying to read in the same sentence. Is Rotastic a sign of good things to come to Xbox Live or a bad omen?

The premise of Rotastic is quite simple: swing around on a rope like a pendulum collecting gems and avoiding hazards. Your character, one of four, must swing from point to point on the screen collecting gems until either A) you have collected all the gems or B) time runs out. Hazards vary from the ridiculous to the somewhat comically barbaric and they are often combined in the same level. Flying chickens carrying gems will often be found alongside deadly spinning blades.

Rotastic features four plucky characters: Fraghar the Viking, Legalos the vain elf, Gamman the warthog, and Death Himself. Each character has three additional colored variations, making for a total of sixteen characters though they seem to handle exactly the same. Rotastic is split into seven worlds that are themselves split into about ten levels each. As you complete each level, you are awarded either a bronze, silver, gold, or platinum helmet that reflects your performance.

Each consecutive world requires that you possess an even greater number of helmets to proceed. The worlds are lightly themed but are otherwise distinguished by simple backgrounds. Levels increase in challenge as you progress and new obstacles are constantly introduced. There are also boss fights here and there. The level types include simple gem collecting, accomplishing signature moves, avoiding hazards, busting birds and bats and various combinations of such.

Rotastic’s presentation could be considered cute, perhaps funny, and maybe even gory. Its graphics are simple yet effective and they are accompanied by playful music and a Viking that sounds a bit like Gerard Butler. Rotastic is a casual game and, in all honestly, its presentation comes forward as just that. Rotastic looks like a game that you could find for free anywhere online but will set you back 800 Microsoft Points on Xbox Live, roughly $10 dollars. The presentation is somewhat lacking in that it’s never really humorous enough, cute enough, gruesome enough, or really appealing to look at. Rotastic seems to just not take itself seriously enough.

Rotastic does feature local four-player games in which you can race to collect the most gems or straight on attempt to kill each other. There isn’t any online multiplayer so you must absolutely have a friend next to you if you want to get the most out of Rotastic. With that said, once you get through the 70 or so levels, there really is not much more reason to revisit the game unless you are obsessive about achieving 100 percent completion.

Rotastic starts off well enough but what seems at first to be a game about the physics of swinging never really feels natural and fun. Most of the swinging feels rather forced. Momentum builds up unnaturally and there is a stiffness to it all that just does not sit well. Rotastic is never really as fun to play as it professes to be and completing levels does not always feel rewarding. Rotastic commands somewhat of a premium price considering what little it offers as a whole. It is simply too casual and forgettable. If you are somewhat interested in this title, I suggest that you try the demo first.