''Rocky and Bullwinkle'' is a minigame compilation

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a Hospitality, host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will oft ...

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

developed by

Zen Studios Zen Studios is a Hungarian video game developer and publisher of interactive entertainment software with headquarters in Budapest, Hungary and offices in the United States. It is known for its game franchises, ''Pinball FX'' and '' Zen Pinball'', ...

for the Xbox Live Arcade service, based on characters and scenes from ''

The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends ''The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends'' (commonly referred to as simply ''Rocky and Bullwinkle'') is an American animated television series that originally aired from November 19, 1959, to June 27, 1964, on the American Broadca ...

''. It was released in 2008, marking the first game based on the property since ''Rocky & Bullwinkle's Know-It-All Quiz Game'' in 1998. Upon its release, ''Rocky and Bullwinkle'' was critically panned, with many critics citing its poor visuals and gameplay, unresponsive controls and lackluster presentation as well as its poor resemblance to the

WarioWare is a video game series, a spin-off of the ''Mario'' franchise. It comprises various video games created by Nintendo, starring the character Wario. The series began with '' Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3'', the first game to feature Wario as a p ...

games' "

microgame The MicroGame line by Metagaming Concepts consisted of tabletop microgames published from 1977 to 1982. History In 1977, Metagaming Concepts designer Howard Thompson came up with a new type of small, inexpensive, and fast wargame with a limited ...

"-focused gameplay.

Gameplay

The core gameplay of ''Rocky and Bullwinkle'' revolves around fast-paced

minigames A minigame (also spelled mini game and mini-game, sometimes called a subgame or microgame) is a short game often contained within another video game. A minigame contains different gameplay elements and is often smaller or more simplistic than th ...

that must be completed within a short time limit. This "microgame" format is very similar to that of the WarioWare franchise. ''Rocky and Bullwinkle'' has over 100 minigames, each centered around different segments or characters from the cartoon. Minigames are divided into levels dubbed "shows", which are progressively unlocked through the completion of minigames in each show. Each minigame begins with a brief instruction of how the game is played; this is paired with a short description of the game and often a short clip from the cartoon pertaining to the game. After the player completes a certain number of minigames in a show, the player encounters a "boss game", which is essentially a standard minigame with an extended time limit. The game has a "hot-seat"

multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

mode, in which up to 12 players must pass the controller along in between each minigame. The game utilized the

Xbox Live Vision camera Xbox Live Vision is a webcam accessory that was developed as an accessory for the Xbox 360 video game console. It was announced at E3 2006 and was released in North America on September 19, 2006, Europe and Asia on October 2, 2006, and Japan on ...

in many of its games, although it is entirely playable without the accessory.

Reception

''Rocky and Bullwinkle'' received largely negative reviews.

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

gave the game a 3/10, with reviewer Ryan Geddes criticizing the game for its poor presentation, visuals and gameplay. In his review he stated, "By the time I was done with Rocky & Bullwinkle, I was not only dissatisfied but also thoroughly confused. Who is the audience for this product? The games are so simplistic that they must be aimed at children, most of whom will have no idea who these characters are. Adults who are familiar with the series will be insulted by the presentation and the childlike controls. And none of the above will have much fun with Rocky & Bullwinkle." The game has a

metascore Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jas ...

of 37 on

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Dan Whitehead of

Eurogamer ''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 alongside parent company Gamer Network. In 2008, it started in the formerly eponymous trade fair EGX (Eurogamer Expo until 2013) organised by its parent company. Fr ...

gave the game a score of 5/10, with his review stating "..as a whole the game feels undercooked, unpolished and ultimately unsatisfying."

References

External links

Official website

Zen Studios
2008 video games The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends Microsoft games Multiplayer and single-player video games Puzzle video games Video games based on animated television series Video games developed in Hungary Xbox 360 games Xbox 360 Live Arcade games Xbox 360-only games Zen Studios games {{puzzle-videogame-stub