rRootage Online - Review

By: Fraglab Version # : 1.0.4 Date Released: 07/26/2010 Type: Games  Price: $0.00 Our Rating User Rating: Average: Select ratingPoorOkayGoodGreatAwesome No votes yet   Get App From App Store

What do you get when you take your basic top down shooter arcade game, get rid of the entire level except the boss, and then multiply the bullets on the screen, and give your ship a giant laser? Well, you would then have cult classic rRootage. This action game, released by Kenta Cho of ABA games, charmed the hearts of gamers on the Mac and PC, and is now available for the iPhone from Fraglab.

To be honest, this game has been ported once to the iphone during the early days of the app store. This official re-release, aims to be a more faithful rendition of the computer version, as well as implementing online scores, and iOS 4 compatibility. In rRootage, you control a green rotating cylinder with a red dot in the middle . Your mission is to destroy the giant geometric boss at the top of the screen while he, in turn, fires the very definition of "barrage of bullets" at you. The term I think this game coined was "Bullet Hell", and that is a very accurate assessment of the game. The only saving grace is that your ship can only be destroyed by the solid dots in the middle of the bullets and only if they hit the dot in the middle of your ship. This advantage only gives you a fighting chance since the bullet barrages grow increasingly dense and the fire patterns become more complicated.

Each boss has two forms which gives you a short break in the action during a level. Each level has five waves, and ten levels per game type so you will have no shortage of gameplay.

The normal mode is as described above, while a PSY mode lets you scrape bullets to gain invisibility for a short period of time. IKA mode lets you collect bullets of the same color as you. Those can then be fired back at the boss from your laser, while the GW mode gives you a force field to deflect bullets back at the enemy. These game modes add a lot of depth and playability that will keep you coming back for more. rRootage is a classic shooter with a unique style and one that should not be missed on the iPhone.