Rocket Jockey (1996)
Genres:Sport, Racing
Themes:Action
Game modes:Single player, Multiplayer
Story:Rocket Jockey is a sports-action game with different modes, all involving the player jetting at high speed on a rocket-powered, always-on sled.
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11 year old me played this gem over and over on a PC magazine demo disk. Tethering another racer at high speeds was super satisfying. I was never able to find and buy the game with my allowance but I've always wanted to revisit my nostalgia and experience the full title.
Found this game via shareware disc my friend had lent me, i may have spent more than a few more hours than i should on the game. Since i live in a country that rarely gets games unless we try to import them or get them through a relative i missed this game.
Great surf rock music, some of the most fun physics-driven grappling hook gameplay I've ever experienced, and a lot of creativity in tying things together. I forget the name of it but the combat mode was the key. Everything was fast and chaotic, and there was a lot of room for mastery in just getting around. I love this game so much
I absolutely loved this game, but it was about 6-10 years ahead of its time. It came out right at the dawn of multi-player gaming, but it was not ready to be played via LAN or online. They did release a patch to add networking multi-player, but it didn't work very well, and it was already a failed game at that point. But if this game had come out a few years later for the Dreamcast or the OG Xbox, it would have been a smash hit.
I enjoyed the single player aspect of this game. The idea of riding a rocket that shoots grappling hooks to turn was innovative gameplay at the time. And the fact that you could grapple other riders and rip them off of their rockets made it all even better. You could tell that the game was designed to be played with many rocket jockeys in the arena, but the internet and networking was simply not ready yet for home users.
there is an improved graphics remake out there called Rocket Jockey's that gives you almost the whole game. Its missing some characters and most important, LAN play.
Big problem with the original is that it appeared to use clock cycles from the CPU for timing. I remember trying to run it up on faster processors and the game play would be ridiculously fast to be unplayable. Sadly, Sega released it originally without LAN play, which is the best part. You could download it eventually. I think it would have been an instant hit with LAN included. but the delay was too long and peeps moved on.
I got this with an early 3D accelerator card and didn’t play it until years later. It has a surprising amount of depth and would be great fun with a controller and some friends.
I remember having so much fun playing this game's demo that I got with some other software. 3 game modes: Racing, Arena and Soccer!
The premise of this game is simple. You're a rocket jockey (self explanatory) and you flew around a smallish arena at high speed with limited ability to turn natively. That's why each rocket had grappling hook launchers equipped to each side, so you could corner amazingly fast if you grappled to any of the many poles in the arena.
Hilariously, you could also grapple the opponent's rocket, or body if you were accurate enough!
The graphics were rough, but the controls were easy to use in practice but took a while to truly master.
I loved both the combat and soccer modes! Learning the timing and controls required to grapple a soccer ball and wing it into a net for a goal was an amazing feeling.
Not to mention I spent WAY too long grappling other jockeys off their rockets, dragging them behind me and flinging them away from their own rockets to buy myself time and points. (When a jockey was dismounted, they had to run back to their rocket and get flying again). I remember doubling over with laughter at the hilarious sounds of their surprised yells and grumbling.
Whoever came up with the combat mechanics and sound effects for the jockeys was an utter genius! Being able to grapple opponents (or be grappled) and having to get back to your rocket (or get knocked unconscious during a collision) added a level of depth and realism that I still think about all these years later. Your rocket's handling even changed as stabilizer fins and parts were yanked off during combat. Truly amazing attention to detail for such an old, demo, let along a full game.
Would love to play this game in real multiplayer with updated graphics and physics.
Try googling 'Rocket Jockey' and 'Rocket Jockey First' for more info!
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