With so many games on Xbox Live you would be forgiven for missing one or two of the hidden gems out there, especially when they are released at the same time as higher profile titles. With this being the case, you won’t be surprised to know then that it brought us great pleasure when we managed to find what we consider to be one of the best and most addictive releases so far, a title which goes by the name of Rocket Riot.

 

Rocket Riot is a mixture of old school arcade and fast paced shooting, in a way it is not dissimilar to another of Xbox Live’s addictive titles Geometry Wars, thanks to its fast pace, non stop action and dual stick controls. The first thing that will strike you about Rocket Riot is it’s art style, it takes it’s inspiration from old school 8 bit gaming, with environments falling into a shower of pixelated pieces anytime your weapons penetrate them. It has to be said that the backgrounds are a big part of the games appeal, they are very colorful and although not detailed to the extreme, they are designed well enough for you to want to see more.

 

 

So what is it all about? Well you play the part of a solider who has a rocket attached where his legs used to be, throughout the game you are then given a mission which can range from scoring goals with an American football, finding a person who is hidden somewhere in the scenery, finding items, destroying things such as canons or just killing enemy after enemy. In order to complete your mission you control your character with the left stick, while the right stick is used to aim and fire. Aiming your weapon is not the most precise thing in the world though, however due to the sheer manic style of the onscreen action this is more of an minor annoyance than a game spoiling one.

 

To help you fight the enemies and complete the other tasks, there are plenty of goodies spread throughout the levels, although some of these can actually harm your cause, for example one weapon I picked up was a gun, however when I fired I was just greeted with a POW flag. (oh the humor). All of the items you will find are colour coded so it is easy to avoid the bad ones and just pick out the good ones, although since the action can get a bit manic sometimes you will not be able to help picking up the detrimental power ups on occasion.

 

Outside the main single player mode the game also includes an endurance mode, which basically throws enemy after enemy at you and tasks you with surviving, there is also a tutorial mode which allows you to get used to the basics and improve your skills ready for the real thing.

 

 

The game also includes a multiplayer option and playing here had to be one of the craziest times I’ve had in a multiplayer game on the Xbox 360. Basically you can play offline with four players on screen, or if you prefer you can go online and play with seven other players in modes such as Deathmatch, Golden Guy, Rugby Riot and Destroy the Object. These modes are all great fun, although sometimes it’s easy to lose sense of what’s going on due to the manic and fast paced nature of the games.

 

Rocket Riot is without doubt one of the most enjoyable and addictive games on Xbox Live Arcade today, it’s so much fun, has great presentation and to add to this it has a fantastic multiplayer mode. This is one game that anyone with Xbox Live should not miss out on, it really is a riot.