In this bouncy, bizarre arcade adventure from Nitrome, the age old question is answered. Namely, if a one-eyed, rocket-propelled space cat explorer launches off a goo covered asteroid and knocks a floating cow into orbit, does it make a sound? According to Rockitty, the answer is yes. (It's a sort of "p-twang" sound, if you're curious.)
Rockitty is a special sort of cat, the sort that is green and flies about in the deepest reaches of space searching for fish. Unfortunately, this frequently leads her (at least, I'm assuming it's a her) to get separated from her stylish spaceship, and she'll need you to guide her back to it. All while keeping an eye out for space squid. And space cows. And space spikes. And space lava. And space meter maids. Fine, we made that one up. And luckily for you, because we're pretty sure that spaceship is double-parked.
The game is played simply by pointing Rockitty where you want her to go with your mouse, and clicking to send her flying, collecting fish for points along the way. If the surface she hits is anything but pink, sticky goo, she'll bounce right back off in another direction, making the game play a bit like the world's strangest pinball machine. If you happen to land in space milk, you can use your rockets to swim through it. Things like lava and spikes are harmful to Rockitty, and if you hit too many of them in a level, you'll have to restart.
With the exception of the bonus levels, there aren't any time limits within the game, so you can feel free to bounce around and explore at your leisure. Just be sure you don't spend too much time zipping from place to place or you could run out of fuel. And make sure you plan your jumps carefully, or you could wind up flying off into nothingness, a sad footnote in space cat history.
Analysis: If there's one thing Nitrome is good at, it's being weird, and I mean that in the best possible way. Rockitty features some of their strangest designs to date, from beachball-esque space cows, to the clown-like space squid. It's the sort of unabashed silliness you remember from Saturday morning cartoons, something you'd watch while eating Fruit Loops and ignoring your parents when they told you to clean your room. Nitrome doles out the oddities over each of the game's 22 levels, which both helps keep the environments fresh and provides an incentive to keep playing. (I was hoping for space isopod, the prettiest of all space creatures. No luck.)
So in a game as bouncy and fun as Rockitty, it can be frustrating to find out that most of the game comes down to luck rather than skill. After the first ricochet, predicting where she's going to head next can be about almost impossible, and after a series of carefully timed leaps, watching Rockitty go soaring off screen and forcing a restart can be... disheartening.
Although it shares some of the same concepts behind old favourite Castle Corp, Rockitty doesn't feel quite as developed in terms of gameplay. There's a lot to see, but not a lot to do beyond gathering fish and hopefully not getting blown up. I would have liked to have seen some upgrades or more enemies to spice things up, even if it meant reusing some of the concepts to do so. Is this game begging for a space kitty throw-down with an evil rival in a sea of milk? I think it is!
But there's something simply enjoyable about Rockitty, and even if she's not as fleshed out as some previous Nitrome endeavours, bouncing around in space is ridiculously fun. One particularly clever level has you pilot a wooden space ship, and bumping space cows around is always fun. Short, silly, and lovely to look at, Rockitty is a welcome afternoon break to your day. Who knows? You may just wind up being bitten by the space travel bug. Just be sure to remember where you park your spaceship.
Slightly off topic, but undeniably coincidental, one of the candidates for Afghan president today is named Rocketi, for his exceptional skill with rockets. As you were.
I think the level designs definitely make up for the flatness of the game mechanics.
Well, I liked it. I'm on level 13. It's hard from the start because you have to clear the bombs that are blocking the passage, which makes you lose a life. Still, deserves at least 3 and a half stars.
I beat this fairly quickly. 22 levels wasn't enough. I still need to beat 3 more Nitrome games in order to have beaten them all.
It's like a combination of multiple other nitrome games -> castle corps (rocket system) space hopper (planets), droplets (score-squares)etc. It's really fun actually but the best features are underused; like that sort of wooden ship in level 6 and the portal in a later level (can't remember which one).
@Francis you really don't have to loose a life on the beginning of level 13. Use the 'score balls' to clear a way trough them.
Finnaly another Nitrome game, the level designs were some of the best (along with Castle Corp in my opinion).
I was thinking it reminded me of Headcase, but Castle Corp is a better comparison.
I agree that the 22 levels, though in the nice shape of a cat's head, is too few. I'm sure Nitrome could have made 40 levels without a problem, using the ship, portals, bubbles, etc. that only made one or two appearances.
how do you end level 20 please
I'm not all that far into the game as yet, but I'm sad to say that I haven't found the milk for a second time after the first appearance of the space!squids.
And level 6, with the wooden ship? Yeah... I could bounce the ship all I wanted, it went a completely different way. And if I didnt bounce at all, it went in the way I wanted it to go. ... Strange.
I think that, like most nitrome games (especially if I read the review and the comments here) that it should recycle more things. I really hate the fact that the first 10 levels all introduce new things, only to have those new things used once or twice. If they're lucky, trice(?), and after that, they just make the levels extremely hard and based off of luck.
But really. Why can't they do this: Introduce something new, use that new thing a level or two, introduce another new thing... Ect.
That way the gameplay and levels are more evened out. And when they've introduced everything, make the last few levels a mix of most things/everything.
I'm not that far yet to see if that'll happen or not, but judging by reading this and some of the comments... Not really.
Still though, the levels are short enough to do every so often when you're bored or waiting for a movie download to finish. But I advise you not to play for too long all at once. Makes the game frustrating and annoying.
Im stuck on level 22 right now, I agree, more levels and using the portals and squids again (though I dont mind bubbles being used once, they werent consistant enough) I made it all the way to the end, took a short breather and what-do-ya (spoiler so people who arent there yet dont know >:D
the big ball of fire falls in the way :O I know, I know, I should've seen it comin'
This is the easiest Nitrome game ever--no skills needed, just luck.
the key to level 20: you have to be at the bottom edge of the second moving platform as it's miving down so when you go through the second tube you recochet of the wall infront of the moving platform and can then hit the blocks and break through them. stumped me too for a while!
I feel that this game in particular, though possibly most Nitrome games, could considerably benefit from a level editor.
Also, what's the trick to the squid?
Also, is there a reason that "refresh comments" button doesn't show up anymore? (Or is it just that I use Safari?)
Hmm. The game is not working for me at the minute. I've only done level one and now it's crashed. I hope this is just a one off...
@Will: Nitrome currently have a vote open in their blog. You can vote on what you'd most like to see from them, and level editors is one of the options (in fact, I do believe that Level Editors has the most votes). Go and vote if you really feel strongly about it :)
This games keep crashing. It freezes and all. Like it is really easy, but now at level 19 it won't stop crashing and it can't get any better. :[/
Lvl 20 won't load.... and what does low fuel mean?
Whats the deal with level 15? I start somewhere in the middle of the screen, NOT on the pink stuff, but in the middle. A constant 'low-fuel' message is shown.
Any ideas how to fix this?
For all those people with trouble: it should be fixed now, Nitrome was just glitching for a while.
Update