Slap the Rocks Review | TheXboxHub

No prizes for guessing what you’ll spend your time doing in Slap the Rocks, the newest recreation from publishers Eastasiasoft and Ratalaika Video games. 

In the event you guessed slapping rocks, effectively, you bought it in a single. Throughout thirty ranges, you’ll be pushing rocks into holes to create paths that can lead you to treasure. It’s a easy premise, and one which admittedly doesn’t provoke pleasure and intrigue. Does pushing rocks round sound enjoyable to you? 

Nonetheless, they are saying you must by no means choose a guide by its cowl. We’ve seen numerous instances the place a recreation takes an thought, runs with it and produces one thing that’s really fairly entertaining. After taking part in Slap the Rocks although, I can safely guarantee you that this isn’t a type of instances. In reality, the one factor this recreation has going for it’s an correct title.  

The problem isn’t the straightforward premise. It’s that it’s by no means constructed upon. You’ll be pushing rocks into holes for thirty ranges and never a lot else. There are just a few instances the place you’ll have to cope with decoy chests (which annoyingly reset the extent in the event you open them), hidden rocks and branching pathways, however they do nothing to stop Slap the Rocks from changing into performed out inside twenty minutes. 

One other results of this lack of depth is that the sport finally ends up being a lot too easy. Aside from just a few sections which will take a few tries, Slap the Rocks doesn’t put up a lot of a combat. And as if it couldn’t get any simpler, the sport arms out checkpoints like they’re going out of style. You can make the argument that the sport is supposed to be an informal one, however that isn’t an excuse to have a puzzle recreation that isn’t difficult by any stretch of the creativeness. 

Pair the simplicity with the truth that there are solely thirty ranges, and you’ve got a recreation that can solely take you about an hour to complete. At £4.19, it looks as if notably poor worth, much more so when you think about the whole lack of replayability too. 

In the meantime, the controls are completely horrible. The sport feels clunky, and there appears to be a delay to your inputs. It’s not the tip of the world as you possibly can’t die, however it does find yourself changing into actually annoying the additional into it you get. 

Issues get just a little higher with the presentation. Slap the Rocks opts for the tried and examined pixel artwork that has grow to be a staple of the fashionable indie developer. And it’s carried out fairly effectively right here, with the three world environments – forest, desert and tundra – providing a pleasant background to your rock-slapping shenanigans. Finally although, it’s nothing you haven’t seen earlier than, and nothing to essentially write residence about.  

Eastasiasoft and Ratalaika are two of these publishers which have grow to be notorious for allotting a few of the best completions going, they usually’re in tremendous type once more with Slap the Rocks. Whereas the sport has thirty ranges, you’ll solely have to beat lower than half of them for the complete 1000. In reality, stage choose is unlocked straight away, so you possibly can fully skip the degrees that gained’t reward you with Gamerscore in the event you like. 

Sadly, these simple achievements are the one actual constructive concerning the recreation. As a result of total, Slap the Rocks looks like a case of squandered potential. Thirty ranges ought to have been greater than sufficient to experiment with some fascinating mechanics and supply up some really difficult puzzles. As an alternative, we now have a recreation that’s overly repetitive, overly simplistic and far too quick. Look elsewhere. Slap the Rocks can kick rocks.  

You’ll be able to Slap the Rocks over on the Xbox Retailer