Roarr! Jurassic Edition Switch Review by SwitchWatch
Developer: Born Lucky Games
Publisher: Klabater
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.17.6″]Release Date: Out Now
Price as of Article: $7.99 USD, £7.19 GBP
Game code provided by Klabater for review
Our story begins with a green dinosaur called Sue, sleeping in cave which has been undisturbed for 65 million years – until an alien invasion causes an earthquake in the cave where she is sleeping. This quake wakes up the snoozing dinosaur. She’s been slumbering for so long and isn’t too happy that she’s been woken up, so she goes to investigate what’s going on above her!
Once on the surface though, she realises that there are strange black creatures called squiddies which have taken over the landscape, turning normal objects into twisted creations for their own evil intent.
Roarr! Jurassic Edition actually has a different name on the title screen which I found quite odd. This was originally a Steam title, but why the name change?
‘Roarr! The Adventures of Rampage Rex’ is a little long winded, so perhaps that’s why they went with Roarr! Jurassic Edition – who knows.
Anyway, once on the title screen, you have one main play mode, which is the main story, spanning 6 levels. There’s also a Rexopedia which unlocks information on enemy characters and bosses.
And you can also view your high score too.
Objective!
There are 6 levels in-game. These huge maps are split into different islands with lots of destructible objects. As you progress, you must fight multi-waves of kajiu. After defeating each wave of enemies, a red arrow appears, ushering you to the next location where more monsters are waiting. After you’ve made it to the end of a level, you will face one of the 6 bosses and the process repeats through all 6 areas.
Characters!
This is one area that I really like. As you know, the game can be played with 4 players locally. Instead of all being stuck with the same dinosaur, there are 13 dinosaurs to pick from, each with a different cosmetic look to them. You can play as a punk rocker, Chinese dragon, pirate, tiger, skeleton, or kajiu dinosaur. There’s a good few to pick to from. While they do all handle the same, they have some different animations and visual effects when they use their roar power.
The only other difference is if you are playing with multiple people, each dinosaur will have their own colour, so it is easy to distinguish who’s who on the battle field.
It’s a shame that they didn’t have unique powers and abilities to spice combat up a bit.
Controls!
The controls in Roarr! are fairly simple to use. There’s a brief tutorial at the beginning to show what you need to press, but let’s just go over it here anyway:
Left analog stick lets you move your dinosaur around. B button lets you jump, press it again to double jump.
Claws and tail attack are mapped to the A button and bite attacks are mapped to the X button. You can roll with Y button. By pressing different combinations of X and A, you do different attacks like a 360 spin as well as a headbutt move.
You move the camera with the right analog stick.
You can perform two special moves: one is a charge run – when your rex meter is full, you can press the ZR trigger; or if you want to clear out enemies that are surrounding you, you can use the Roarr! Ability by pressing the R bumper.
Powers/combo!
By destroying buildings, running over trees, or defeating enemies, the circular rex gauge fills up in the top left-hand corner. Once it flashes, you can use one of the two abilities.
There’s also a score and combo meter in the top right-hand corner.
With each successful hit, your combo will build and increase your score, so there is some replay value if you like aiming for the highest score possible. But be aware, these are only local leaderboards.
Levels!
Areas in-game are pretty big and surrounded by water, but have loads of different structures to crash into. And while there are no awesome effects for destroying stuff, it can still be amusing to watch building fly into the air while waves of enemies bound toward you.
Areas change as you progress, from cities to mountains, to even the alien home world. They’re nothing spectacular, but it serves its purpose as a playground for destruction.
I just wish there was more to the beat ‘em up gameplay, as each successful area you complete, you simply move on to the next and repeat it until you make your way to the boss encounter.
Bosses!
There are 19 different enemies, each with their own attack and look but most are just differently coloured versions of each other with a single new attack.
There are 6 huge bosses to fight, from a large mountain-like creature to a combine harvester that’s been controlled. Bosses, while large in scope, can turn on a dime which is a little annoying when you’re trying to hit them. I found that most have a really wide attack pattern and even though you have a dodge ability, it sometimes proves to be ineffective which can cause you to take damage.
I managed get through 5 of them by filling my Roarr! Meter and using Roarr! Power to take a chuck of their health. The only health power up you can use to heal yourself is a meat item which sometimes appears after killing an enemy.
Multiplayer Dino Fest!
This is by far the best way to play Roarr! In local multiplayer. Running around with friends is fun and boss encounters can be managed more efficiently with more people causing damage. I played two-player and it was tonnes of fun just beating the living daylights out of anything that moved!
Six levels aren’t a lot, but replay value comes in at the end of each level where the winner takes the top podium position while others take 2nd, 3rd, etc., comparing scores to see who has the best monster on that current level.
There is a catch though, as while you’re playing if one of your friends dies, they won’t return until the next level, so the others must go on without them. If the team that’s left is successful in defeating a boss, then everyone will appear in the results screen and the whole team will be resurrected on the next level.
The audio is okay, as it has a few catchy tunes on each new area but they tend to stop after the song finishes and replays again after a short while. This isn’t a massive issue as levels are fairly short, but it’s a shame there weren’t more music tracks added.
Also, I don’t understand the sound effects. I’m fighting monsters but when I hit someone or something, the sound effect falls flat and I don’t feel like a monster destroying a city, as there are no sound effects when crashing into buildings and the sound effects that are there feel rather low quality.
[/et_pb_toggle][et_pb_toggle title=”Visuals & Performance” open=”on” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ use_border_color=”on”]The visuals of Roarr! have a very retro-style polygon look and do a good job for what the developers were going for. I would have loved a bit more care and attention to detail though.
Performance ran great. No issues here and multiplayer ran good too.
The game also supports pro controller, screenshot function, as well as video capture.
At £7.19, it’s not bad I guess. There are 6 levels, 19 enemies, and 6 bosses. You can play through the game in single player or 4 player co-op. And there are 13 characters to pick from. It’s also a score-based beat ‘em up.
It’s not bad value for a 4-player multiplayer game. Kids will just enjoy the mindless destruction and silly costumes. But more experienced gamers may be bored of the repetitive nature of the title.
Pros
[/et_pb_text][et_pb_blurb use_icon=”on” font_icon=”%%47%%” icon_color=”#ffffff” use_circle=”on” circle_color=”#5bd999″ icon_placement=”left” _builder_version=”3.17.4″]13 different costumes
[/et_pb_blurb][et_pb_blurb use_icon=”on” font_icon=”%%47%%” icon_color=”#ffffff” use_circle=”on” circle_color=”#5bd999″ icon_placement=”left” _builder_version=”3.17.4″]4 player local split screen
6 levels and bosses
[/et_pb_blurb][et_pb_blurb use_icon=”on” font_icon=”%%47%%” icon_color=”#ffffff” use_circle=”on” circle_color=”#5bd999″ icon_placement=”left” _builder_version=”3.17.4″]Play as a T-Rex
Cons
[/et_pb_text][et_pb_blurb use_icon=”on” font_icon=”%%47%%” icon_color=”#ffffff” use_circle=”on” circle_color=”#e6567a” icon_placement=”left” _builder_version=”3.17.4″]Sound effects fall flat
[/et_pb_blurb][et_pb_blurb use_icon=”on” font_icon=”%%47%%” icon_color=”#ffffff” use_circle=”on” circle_color=”#e6567a” icon_placement=”left” _builder_version=”3.17.4″]Only 2 special powers
Enemies are a little daft looking
[/et_pb_blurb][et_pb_blurb use_icon=”on” font_icon=”%%47%%” icon_color=”#ffffff” use_circle=”on” circle_color=”#e6567a” icon_placement=”left” _builder_version=”3.17.4″]Repetitive
What's Your Reaction?
