The Xbox LIVE Vision Camera, used for many of the games, is a complete bust (surprise!) forcing players to rely on a sometimes baffling controller scheme. Levels are divided by themed shows - Dudley Do-Right, Sherman and Mr. Peabody, etc. - which is nice, but the microgames in each level are repeated too often. This creates a snoozefest for Rocky and Bullwinkle's core audience: kids, who wonder why they're playing the same thing over and over. Music and dialogue are also on a nonstop loop in each show. Ugh!
With their iconic status Rocky and Bullwinkle will find an audience, but it could have been a much broader and more fulfilled one if this title lived up to its name.
GWN reports:
''The characters Rocky and Bullwinkle strike a familiar chord with baby boomers. During their show's on-again, off-again run from the late 1950s through the mid-1960s, they captivated audiences young and old with a deft blend of madcap antics and timely themes, much the same way The Simpsons grabbed hold of its massive demographic during its creative peak in the 1990s. Perhaps that's why Rocky and Bullwinkle, the Xbox Live Arcade game from Zen Studios, is such a disappointment. Though it tries to combine the source material with the frantic gameplay and zany visuals of WarioWare, it instead comes off as a half-baked attempt to cash-in on a beloved license.''
Robert Workman reports:
''We hate it when a game developer takes a classic franchise we grew up with and trashes it. Zen Studios is guilty with its Xbox Live Arcade release of Rocky and Bullwinkle. What should've been a fun, easygoing mini-game compilation is anything but. It's more like a virtual example of how NOT to do one.
In the game, you go through a series of episodes featuring stars from the classic cartoon, including Rocky, Bullwinkle, Boris and Natasha, Peabody the Dog and Sherman, among others. Each offers a variety of mini-games, in the same tradition as Nintendo's WarioWare games. The gigantic difference here, however, is that the WarioWare games are fun, where Rocky and Bullwinkle's are not.''
XBF writes: "Mini-games should be one of two things; and preferably both. They should be quick and they should be fun. Rocky and Bullwinkle magically avoids being either with "mini" games that seem to be far too long to be enjoyable. The ones that are quick are so frustratingly annoying; they can't even be enjoyed for a quick thrill."
Highlights:
Sound - 5.0
Graphics - 4.0
Controls - 5.0
