Roc'n Rope
By ? (The Video Game Update July 1984 pg 63)
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By Scott Stilphen
Granted, the original arcade version is one deeply flawed game that all its colorful graphics and nice theme music and sound f/x can't overcome, but then there's this version. There's so little here from the original arcade game that the (very) few fans of it wouldn't want anything to do with this. Naturally, forget the original's attractive graphics and screens showing the large log wheel and waterfall, and the pleasant music; in its place are drab graphics and incredibly annoying music. Players are further subjected to only having 1 button to control 2 different functions. Several more gameplay aspects aren't included. Although levels show ladders (or what look like ladders but are actually supposed to be vines) for climbing down to a lower platform, they aren't functional! The enemies never climb your ropes, so the strategy of knocking them off is gone. The Golden Roc's feathers never fall down as in the arcade version, and forget about seeing the 'payoff' of you hanging on to its tail feathers as it flies away. Combine all that with a flawed game design and frustrating gameplay, and you end up with a game that's nobody's favorite. Of the 3 VCS games that Ed English did, this one is by far the worst. His Mr. Do! was an acceptable conversion, and his Frogger is known for being a fantastic conversion (and it's only 4K). To add insult to injury, what's with the box art? Amidst the cartoonish background is a photo of an actual guy; neither the arcade machine nor the flyer for it has such a photo. The box also shows the Golden Roc as colored blue (?) and even depicts a pink pterodactyl carrying rocks, which of course wasn't included in the game. The box for the overseas release (by CBS Electronics) doesn't feature an actual guy, but the screenshots are of the Colecovision version! The manual states:
No other Coleco manuals state this, nor do any VCS manuals from any other company. Is this the first example of a company telling a user to 'power cycle their computer'? I think everyone involved phoned this one in. Spare yourself the agony of trying to play this one and take the manual's advice and simply hold down RESET.
