My last exposure to this series was the first one, which was an enjoyable little romp, if not feeling a tad unpolished. Little did I know this series continued on and built a strong tight-knit community of fans with its trademark humor and gameplay, and here we are with the third entry in the series as a result of that. And man, I absolutely cannot say this feels unpolished anymore, because the dev team over at ACE Team have not only sharpened the gameplay formula to a razor’s edge, but they’ve also created unique additional game modes. The icing on the cake? A robust creating mode for you to come up with every terrifying game map for you and your friends to have fun on. Let’s talk a little bit more about what makes Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break tick!
Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break
Developer: ACE Team
Price: $30
Platform: PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One
MonsterVine was supplied with a PC code for review
Your basic game mode has the objective of destroying your opponent’s castle, and to do that, you will roll your chosen rock (That’s right, we have a multi-rock selection screen here, with different stats and effects) over huge swaths of land filled with twists, turns and traps meant to destroy or deter you from reaching the enemy base. Compounding the problems, your opponent can earn and spend gold to construct even more obstacles and weapons to stop your attempts at high speed kinetic discharges on their front door. AKA, They don’t want a 20 ton stone barreling through their front door at 100 mph! Your enemy will also be rolling their own rock towards your base, and thankfully you have the same kind of opportunity to fortify the route to your point of defense. I always felt like I was a little outgunned throughout the campaign by the enemy, which was occasionally frustrating, and I felt like each unit could have really benefited from some more information or direction in a unit’s use. It’s nothing a little experimentation doesn’t solve, but I have more than a few losses under my belt because I spent the match figuring out how to use a new defense I earned. As you get more, and it comes together, you can put together some pretty wild Rube Goldberg-esque sets of traps in order to deter your opponent; you are really only limited by your imagination on that one.
Beyond the normal gamemode, you have all kinds of other modes as well. Race your opponent through obstacle courses to see who can make it to the end, compete on global leaderboards in time trials, and balance scoring points on the track and being quick enough to beat your opponent to the skee ball board so you can earn a sick point bonus! All of these and more are around to keep you entertained as you make your way through the game’s story mode, and adding to the entertainment, is this series’ sense of humor and method of storytelling. I found myself smiling, and even laughing a few times on my way through history in this game. You also have the opportunity to do some online multiplayer as well if you want to get in on the action with friends!
This really feels like a fleshed out vision of what they were shooting for the whole time, and I am here for it. Adding some more diverse content helps break up the main game mode, and adding in multiplayer and a robust creative mode only add onto the hours that you can spend in this game. I was surprised that this game even had some good, catchy tunes going on in the background, and that was more than I was expecting honestly, so it was a pleasant surprise to encounter good music and sound design. The graphics land more on the side of stylized rather than trying to push the engine to its limits, so even though there aren’t any insane textures to gawk at, the game’s art style keeps things looking pleasant and unique.
If you are looking for something that feels very unique, and to that point, feels like a very polished version of something unique, you could do far worse than Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break. I was occasionally frustrated at how the rocks handled, or the lack of elaboration or explanation on some units or game modes, but they didn’t turn me off from enjoying the game. The base of the game is solid enough that some experimentation doesn’t feel like a chore, and coming back to a challenge with more knowledge and kicking its ass feels great. I even managed to lose a time trial the first time, and on the second time, placed #10 worldwide! Thank god for those sweet sweet early access leaderboards.
The Final Word
Rock of Ages 3 is a unique and charming game, made by a team that clearly has a lot of love for their product behind it, and this would probably have to be its most robust and complete entry in the series. If you have tried the series before, come on back and check this one, and if you are new, you couldn’t choose a better entry to put hours into!
– MonsterVine Rating: 4 out of 5 – Good
