VPLANET'S REVIEW OF ROCKET FUEL MAYHEM
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"Combat From the Farthest Planets to the Brightest Stars!" 

The First Intergalactic War was a dark time for the entire universe,
as colonies were either destroyed or completely eradicated. These dark
times forced a second offensive from the Xaoonixxu against the Human and
Antari federation forces of Earth.

This great war, called the "Rage of Pridromeus", ended with the death of
all Xaoonixxu. But with that taste of divine victory, warriors hungered
for more battles. The Galactic Space League heeded that call by forming
an annual tournament against the remaining, most powerful ships in the
galaxy...

Game Review 
Graphics (n.) 
**** (Very Good) 
The graphics category is where Kentauri's latest space combat game really
shines, but it takes more than screenshots to see just how far Kentauri has
evolved when it comes to graphical detail. The main ship are rotated and
well-animated, placed upon a dynamic background that sometimes features
objects in the background and the foreground of the arena. If enabled,
power-ups will fly around the screen. With all this on-screen action
happening simultaneously, the result ought to look disorganized, but thanks
to wise palette choices and a lot of technical polish all the graphics work
fluidly without a hitch. The subtle touches don't stop between games either.
The menus in Rocket Fuel Mayhem are vibrant and well-detailed, and during
battle the pilots to the right of the screen change facial expressions
according to how each round in the tournament is progressing. There's
even a brightness setting for gamers with different monitor settings.
 
Sound/Music (n.) 
*** (Good)
Kentauri does a good job of creditting the music that plays in the
background of Rocket Fuel Mayhem, whose credits include tunes from
Battle Star Galactica and Blade Runner. The music is well-selected,
but sometimes does not load fully, causing some notes in the tracks to
be missing. This isn't a major problem, though; the game certainly isn't
the same without the soundtrack and the tunes are relatively uncommon
enough to make Rocket Fuel Mayhem's atmosphere feel unique.

Gameplay (n.) 
*** (Good) 
Rocket Fuel Mayhem's gameplay is closest to Atari's Asteroids, Space Duel, 
or Sami Kyostila's QB game Star Wrek. You play the pilot of a ship, whose
options are to turn left, turn right, use weapons, or to move forward. To
win each round, you must destroy all enemy ships as they show up in the
arena before they shoot you down. You'll soon realize, however, that
blowing up enemy ships is not as straightforward as aiming and shooting.
Each vehicle type in Rocket Fuel Weapon comes equipped with a primary
and secondary weapon, with the latter often requiring strategy to use
effectively. You can also deal damage to your enemy or yourself by picking
up random power-ups as they drift across the screen. This becomes tricky
since your ship relies on gravity to move downward. Therefore, good
positioning so that you can dodge enemy fire, grab incoming power-ups,
and develop an offense of your own is essential to victory.
 
Story (n.) 
*** (Good) 
Good. In perhaps the most deliberate attempt to rack up points in
VPlanet's Story category, Kentauri includes both an instruction manual
and a large encyclopedia of the Rocket Fuel Mayhem universe, including an
illustrated, detailed science fiction explanation of the wars that
eventually led to the birth of RFM as a sport. The execution is just
right; the text is there for people to read, and if elaborate demos were
mixed with the in-game action it might just feel awkward. 

Replay Value (n.) 
*** (Good)
With a mixture of challenging and casual single-player modes, Rocket Fuel
Mayhem is a joy to play alone. The satisfaction of winning the first
tournament is very relieving, but trying to win the tournament again using
a different ship offers a very different learning experience. The lump
mode is also a nice way to vent out frustrations when tournaments don't
end up with victories. What's even better about Rocket Fuel Mayhem is
taking the knowledge from single-player mode and applying it to
multi-player combat. There's a fairly tight learning curve in Rocket
Fuel Mayhem that really shows if you find an innocent, inexperienced QB
buddy willing to challenge you in the Galactic Space League. There is room
for improvement though-- a tournament tree mode for more than two players
would have really rocked.
 
Challenge (v.) 
**** (Very Good)
The heart of Rocket Fuel Mayhem is the game's single-player tournament
mode, and Kentauri gives no mercy in terms of how tight the enemy AI
attacks. Each enemy craft will do it's best to capitalize on it's
strengths, which in effect takes away from your own advantages. Faster
aircraft like Zoomers will use evasive manuvuers, while stronger aircraft
like Deviators will use it's hull to crush you. There's no single
strategy, regardless of ship, that's completely safe against every
possible opponent. The best strategy to get far in the GSL tournaments
is to look at the game's database immediately, and find out which of the
game's aircraft has the best stats for your attack style. Each ship has
it's strength, whether it's range, hull strength, weapon power, speed, or
balance. Every ship will have it's mismatch-- Kentauri had the most
success in tournaments using the Dou Pai and the Tomcat, but other ships
like the Deviator also have a good chance of winning tournaments, with
the right amount of practice.
 
Fun Factor (n.) 
** (Average) 
Maybe it's unintentional, but ever since Dark Quest Kentauri has been
taking risks by expanding on game ideas first established in the Atari
days; Kentauri's Pong Worz is a progression from Pong, Kentauri's Another
World Memory is Atari Concentration with a twist, and now Asteroid/Space
Duel has evolved into Rocket Fuel Mayhem. Regardless of the number of
new gameplay ideas implemented into one of these updates, there's only so
many ways to dress up an old game idea without making the game somewhat
stale. However, it's with this practice of resuscitating old favorites
that Kentauri that has brought about their best game so far. No particular
feature in Rocket Fuel Mayhem is outright spectacular, but there is a good
mixture of challenges (tournament mode), bonus rounds (lumps), and
two-player simultaneous action. You'll be hard pressed to find a better
jack-of-all-trades from any QB game, regardless of genre. 

Rocket Fuel Mayhem Reviewed by Vance Velez
 
Players 1-2 players 
Simultaneous Genre: Arcade/Shooter Game 
Rating  To solve: 6-8 hours Final Rating: 22/35