Rocky Horror Show Gets The Retro Gaming ‘Time Warp’ Treatment For Its 50th Anniversary
News Overview
The musical classic, Rocky Horror Show, is set to celebrate its 50th anniversary with an innovative retro gaming release. Fans can relive the show's magic through chip-tune tracks and side-scrolling gameplay.
- Platforming: The game features platformer elements similar to Castlevania.
- Digital Release: Available for Nintendo Switch at £7.09 and Steam at £7.65 as of writing.
- Developers: Metal X Entertainment, Bit Bot Media & FreakZone Games collaborated on this project.
Developer Insights
Sam Beddoes from FreakZone Games explains: 'It was an honor to adapt the legendary musical into a video game. Now both new fans and veterans can enjoy a fun take on the story and music in crunchy 8-bit goodness.'
FreakZone Games' producer, Joshua Viola, says, ‘For those familiar with Rocky Horror, they’ll get to relive it in a fresh, exciting way. For newcomers, it’s an unforgettable introduction to a cult classic, delivered with a twist only a video game can provide.’
Success Expectations
With 50 years of following behind the musical and Bit Bot Media's successful Kickstarter campaigns, this project is expected to achieve similar success.
Are you ready to do the Time Warp again?
Picked it up the other night and streamed it. Basically, I recommend it if you're a Rocky Horror fan. If you're not, you're getting a somewhat mediocre and extremely short $10 platformer.
The good... It was super funny. On top of the obvious show story, there's a whole mess of references to 8bit games that hit just right. I had to stop and take a break a couple times because I was laughing so hard. The music is great, but instrument choices are a little too "farty" sounding in my opinion. Still enjoyed it, sang along and said callbacks during cutscenes.
The bad stuff...
Some of the deaths are kinda cheap. There's platforms that will collapse that have no indication of such. The only way to find out is when they fall. Likewise, most of the hazards in the game are spiky balls and weights that swing or fall to kill you. There's moments where stuff falls from off screen. Only way to find them is when they're coming down to smash you.
There are only 3 regular enemies throughout the game, a screaming skull, a brain with googly eyes, and a zombie/skeleton maid thing. In my opinion, they could have thrown in Transylvanians, dogs, could have even justified mutants or something and called them failed experiments.
There's only like 3 levels, visited by each character. Each run through the level gets harder with slight pathing variations. Also, Brad is the only character who takes more than one hit. Janet and Dr. Scott are instant death. Doesn't impact things a ton because in their levels, as getting hit would probably be instant death anyway.
I feel like they really missed the opportunity to include a church level. Instead the game starts off in the car on your way to the castle. Could have had skeletons and zombies in the graveyard, ended the level with either Pastor Tim Curry fighting you because he was pissed about you writing in the church doors. Could have even called him an asshole. Also, perfect opportunity to do an American Gothic Riffraff/Torgo cross reference.
Lastly, boss fights are super random, but ultimately the same. They have a jump and an attack. They'll randomly do either one. No patterning, so getting hits can be erratic. I only got hung up on the last one.
Ultimately, $10 was cheaper than going to buy a ticket. The game only takes around an hour to complete. I ran through it twice and still found it enjoyable. Whether that seems worth it is up to you. Normally, I'd have been a little annoyed at the play time and there's obvious flaws, but I still enjoyed it a lot because of the theme. It's an established story. They respected the content and didn't go nuts and try to deviate from it. Having grown up with LJN's travesties, I enjoyed this. Get it if you like the show.