Nerdicus Genesis Review #55 : Chuck Rock

Title : Chuck Rock

Publisher : Virgin Interactive

Developer : Core Design

Genre : Action Platformer

Players : 1

Release Date : 1993

Estimated Value (as of today's date) : $7 - $10

I'll never understand why CHUCK ROCK had gotten so popular back in the early 90's. I wasn't the type of person to fall for slap-stick, gimmicky platformers during the struggling age for developers and/or publishers to define themselves and their mascots. Who would ever in their right mind think a slightly disturbed, Popeye looking caveman with a beer gut could be a good idea? Agh! Sorry, cavemen get to me. Especially when they put Cavemen in games with dinosaurs.

CAVEMEN AND DINOSAURS DID NOT EXIST AT THE SAME TIME. COME ON, PEOPLE. I complain about odd things, don't I?

Thinking back there were quite a few caveman games out there. Now JOE & MAC, that was a good caveman game. Hell, even CAVEMAN GAMES was pretty fun, if you find Olympic styled sport games to be entertaining. I feel like two or three are all you need in the grand scheme of things. Okay, okay..CHUCK ROCK isn't bad. In fact it's probably one of the most decent platformers out there, hence why it became so popular. I just can't stand looking at his damn face.

Here we go. CHUCK ROCK for the Sega Genesis. The Boogerman of the prehistoric era.

No, cavemen don't have instruments, and dinosaurs can't play guitar. Unacceptable. Quick, press start and get out of this damn title screen. Here we go, a caveman who likes to belly hump enemies with his beer gut, repeat the phrase UNGA BUNGA, and toss rocks in the air all while chomping down on some raw dino steaks. Oh, yeah, and that band you see on the title screen? Chuck is the lead singer.

I kid you not. What the hell kind of story line is this. Now does Chuck Rock refer to the fact that he's in a rock band, or because he literally likes to chuck rocks? Discuss. And how does he have such a hot wife? Yeah, premise of the game. Your wife gets kidnapped by some arse named Gary Gritter. Guess what? YOU get to rescue her. Yaaay originality.

It's hard to really discuss this game, because if you've played one platformer you've played them all. You battle enemies, you jump on different levels and occasionally use some rocks to position yourself higher. At the end of each stage (stages, in levels...uh..areas..damn I need to write a blog post about proper video game terminology), you'll fight some bosses.

I can say that the controls are very smooth for the game, and the gameplay is a tad too easy for my taste, but you know what it's one of the few platformers that really didn't annoy me with a far fetched difficulty level in certain areas. It progresses enough that while it does get difficult, it doesn't drive you mad.

Oh, and the belly bump is hilarious.

The developers did do an amazing job of creating a full animated world with some impressive stylized characters and backgrounds. I do admit, I'm a sucker for the cartoony look, so the game earns bonus points there. Still, while I love the designs, Chuck's design pisses me off. Not sure why though. He just reminds me too much of Robin Williams when he played Popeye.

Music..eh...it's typical platforming music and once again for some reason Sega doesn't sound as good as the SNES. I need to really look into the audio boards for both systems and figure out why SNES always sounded better. Anyone have any info on that? I'm feeling a tad bit lazy now. Not enough coffee this morning, ha!

That's it for CHUCK ROCK. A standard platformer, that at least performs well, but still..enough with the cavemen and gimmicky mascots. Unga Bunga my butt.

Final Score (out of 5) :



 Until Next Time, Keep On Gaming!