Rocketeer! flies, but not exactly out of this world
Rocketeer! is a free in the App Store for iPhone and iPad users, and features a little rocket, perpetually moving forward through space, dodging craggy rock formations and doing what we all try to do in our real lives: get money and keep the fuel tank full.
This game is a perpetual-mover, scrolling upwards with an overhead view of your tiny rocket ship. Golden coins are each worth 1 point on your score, and they spin in various formations throughout your path. Your secondary goal is to, naturally, not crash into the rocks. This task is made easier and more difficult by blue "fast-forward" icons and orange "slow-down" icons, which also are dispersed throughout the course. Lastly, in order to continue going, you must keep your fueling your rocket. The fuel comes in the form of green jewels, which you can collect while sliding back and forth collecting coins and dodging land formations.
The classic arcade-style animation and controls in this game are both extremely basic, making this game suitable for kids. Your rocket ship doesn't really change appearance ever, and the backgrounds are static. The spinning coins are animated, but even they are very basic. There are two controls, a left arrow and a right arrow. You have no ability to move forward or backward in this game, just to slide left and right, while collecting and dodging things.
The most challenging part of this game is trying to decide when to collect the various fast-forward and slow-down icons, and when not to. During some passes, you must be going faster, in order to reach the next fuel jewels. In other passages, you must slow down, because the course becomes more treacherous, requiring you to get left and right faster. If you go slow or fast at the wrong times, you will certainly crash and have to begin again.
While the game's challenge to stay alive is solid, nothing else about this game is particularly fun. The play is just back and forth, there is no sound, there are minimal animations, and the perpetual motion without the option of moving around the screen in multiple ways, is frustrating.
This game will also be frustrating to the fans of the popular 1980's comic franchise and beloved Disney movie The Rocketeer who will inevitably download this game, expecting a new riff on an old favorite, but instead getting a totally unrelated game. It is possible that accidental cross-over was the idea when naming this game, but that's doubtful. The name makes sense, in that you are a person operating a rocket, for what it's worth.
With all that considered, I wouldn't say that Rocketeer! is a game that I recommend, except for young children. The simplicity of the controls should make this game fun and easy to figure out, for the youngest users of the iPhone or iPad. Otherwise, there is just not quite enough going on to hold the attention of most users, beyond the old-school arcade appeal. There are plenty of better options, if that's what you're after.
