Reviews// Boulder Dash Rocks

Way, way back in the past, just after time began (in a year that for some reason has been dubbed '1984') a little chap called Rockford started digging his way around in the dirt. He was a greedy little fellow, always trying to get his mitts on free diamonds. So greedy was he, in fact, that he routinely put himself at risk from falling boulders and nasty monstery things in order to get his capitalist mitts on the treasure.

Rockford's adventures made their way onto the Apple II, the MSX, the ZX Spectrum and the Commodore 64 (to name a few), under the humble moniker of Boulder Dash before spinning off into various arcade ports and other console iterations.

Flash forward to the modern world, skipping a boatload of sequels and spin-offs as well as a bit of relative quiet time over the last decade and a half and we get to Boulder Dash Rocks, courtesy of 10tacle Mobile.

Rockford's return brings him to his most natural for this age of crazy-big home consoles: the handheld. Namely, the PSP and the DS, the DS version being the one I got my mitts on.
The good news is that retro gaming fans can rekindle that warm glow they felt when they first met Rockford. The bad news is... he's changed, and the result is not altogether satisfying.

First off, let's get the plot out of the way. Yes – don't shoot the messenger - there is a plot. Rockford's in love. In his bid to impress the lovely Crystal, he's out on a quest to dig up the world's most beautiful treasure. He obviously doesn't think much of the object of his affections, viewing her as materialistic and easily bought. There. That wasn't too painful, was it? Don't worry, the plot won't get in your way again.

The meat of the game is Planet Tour, the story mode. The basic game mechanic has players running around 2D mazes searching for treasure. The mazes are littered with diamonds and the object of each level is to gather up enough (the number attached to 'enough' being dependant on the level) of the shiny gems within a given time limit, making is to the exit to finish up. Straightforward enough, eh?

Along the way you'll run into several variations of dirt that support other items but which Rockford can clear away. You'll also, shockingly, come across boulders that you can push, or that support on your head. Then you've got less frequently apparent items such as baddies, locks, trapdoors and... heavier boulders.

The puzzling elements come from making sure the right bits of dirt and boulders are moved to ensure that Rockford isn't: a) trapped and b) DESTROYED. For the bulk of the game this is taken care of in an old school fashion, using the D-Pad and buttons.

To help along the way there are various helpful weapons that do things such as destroy stuff, move stuff and freeze stuff. That's your rough guide to Boulder Dash Rocks.