Rock Boshers DX: Directors Cut

Developer: Tikipod Ltd | Publisher: Tikipod Ltd | Release Date: 2014 | Genre: Action / Adventure / Indie | Website: Official Website | Format: Digital Download

Instead of the fun and adventures she expected when stowing away on a rocketship bound for Mars, a youthful Queen Victory finds herself forced to bosh rocks instead. She quickly decides that life in the Martian mines does not suit her and instead focuses on making her escape. Standing between her and freedom are hostile soldiers, zombies, giant bugs, and gun turrets, but the thought of tea, cheddar, and jammy scones keeps her going.

If the goofy plot wasn’t already a giveaway, Rock Boshers DX: Directors Cut is a game that proudly wears its love for all things British and retro. In contrast to the glut of recent games claiming to be “retro-inspired,” Rock Boshers takes things a step further. The game is designed to look, sound, and even feel like an original ZX Spectrum title and pulled this off quite admirably. The game uses the same 15-color palette popularized by the Spectrum, although without the hideous color clashing. Some concessions, such as widescreen formatting and HD rendering, have been made to ensure that the 2D pixel-drawn visuals won’t scare away modern players. If you are old enough to remember playing games on the ZX Spectrum, the visuals will bring on a rush of nostalgia, but players raised on the visual gloss of modern titles might take a while to adjust to the style. We like what Tikipod did with the visuals, but we are not fans of the big black borders around the screen. There were also a couple of instances where the limited color palette resulted in us not spotting a passage opening, which left us wandering around and wondering what to do. After its release, the game also received a free graphical update that added optional ‘8bit console style’ artwork in addition to the original ZX Spectrum style art.

Rock Boshers is split into three areas, each with eight levels to complete for a total of 24 levels. It only takes a few minutes to complete a level, but your chances of doing so the first time are very slim. You might make it through the first few levels with barely a scrape, but it won’t be long before your luck runs out. While Rock Boshers is not as mercilessly unfair as many of the titles from the ZX Spectrum era, it isn’t afraid to challenge you. You can expect to be running away from hordes of zombies, avoiding bugs that can kill with one touch, and dodging missile-firing turrets in your quest to reach the lift on each level.

Although the game is predominantly a twin-stick shooter, you’ll also have to use your brain to proceed. Most levels have gates that require keys to open, and the game is fond of ensuring that things aren’t always as straightforward as they seem. Whether throwing you into a level with a jammed gun, forcing you to use the environment to your advantage, or requiring you to fool enemy turrets into blowing up each other, there is rarely a dull moment. Things are challenging enough, but if you want to really test your skills, you can aim for the time-based leaderboards on each level or hunt for the hidden tea, jammy scones, and cheddar cheese. The latter even rewards you with unlockable bonus arcade games, including a very cool Aqua Kitty mini spinoff. Even without the mini-games, Rock Boshers did a great job keeping us hooked despite having to retry some levels multiple times. It has plenty of memorable moments, such as finally getting to drive a tank, taking an elevator ride, and a showdown with quite an epic final boss.

Like the visuals, Tikipod kept things authentically retro for the audio in Rock Boshers DX. Electric Café did the music and sound effects, and these not only suit the game to a tee but are also catchy as hell. We caught ourselves more than a few times humming some of the tunes after playing the game, so the audio definitely left an impression. The game can be played using a keyboard or joypad, although the eight-way firing felt imprecise when using an analog stick. Due to the relatively small arenas, you are often given minimal room to maneuver your character while retaliating and dodging whatever is coming at you. The controls are responsive, though, something that was not always a given back in the day of the ZX Spectrum!

The mixture of puzzles and shooting kept us hooked while playing Rock Boshers DX, even when some of the later levels required multiple attempts to complete (yes, level 20, we are looking at you.) Sadly, many players will overlook the game simply because the visual style looks “old” to them instead of giving it a try. While an appreciation for retro titles will undoubtedly help, Rock Boshers DX: Director’s Cut is challenging, polished, and entertaining enough to recommend to anyone who enjoys arcade-style action games.