Rotastic is barely so-sotastic.
Rotastic is an extremely simple game to play, but it is also deceptively difficult. The first of the game's seven worlds is a tutorial that introduces you to the gameplay. You only use three buttons on the controller. Pressing A will shoot a rope to the nearest anchor point, making you swing around in circles. Tapping either the LB or RB button will instantly change your direction. That's it. That's all there is to the controls.
The next phase involves understanding how to use your momentum to maneuver around the single-screened levels. The game has you following paths of jewels to make shapes, such as figure eights, Big Os, triangles and squares. Successfully complete a path, and you're awarded "Rotastic" trick points. Doing tricks, as well as bouncing off walls, also builds up a shield meter that will allow you to survive an attack or two. It's a lot easier said than done, though, because releasing from your swing at the improper apex will greatly affect your trajectory sending you into harm's way or whittling down precious seconds.
The difficulty of Rotastic very quickly ramps up when it throws obstacles and hazards in the mix. Flying into a wall of spikes or a burning beam will cause damage to you bouncing you forcefully away, and some enemies kill you instantly. Obstacles and man-cannons (yes, cannons that fire men) shear your rope sending you careening to the abyss below. What makes Rotastic even harder to play is that it takes a tremendous amount of trial and error and a generous dollop of luck to nail some of these objectives.
There's also a great amount of inconsistency in the level design. One level might be packed with so many obstacles that it takes you an hour to barely pass it with a copper, while the very next level is nothing more than following a path of jewels that nets you a platinum on the first try. Some levels take several minutes of trying to survive relentless onslaughts of dangers; some are over in a matter of seconds. The more trickier of levels also begs for better controls, as some switches you have to hit or boxes you need to break are akin to threading a needle in the middle of a hurricane.
Each level yields a maximum of four helmets: copper, silver, gold and platinum. In order to advance to the next world, you must amass a required amount of helmets. The first few worlds are no problem, but for the gamers who only skate by and stop at coppers, they'll find themselves locked out of the next world very quickly. This means having to go back to earlier stages and replay them again and again in hopes of earning more helmets to advance. Not only is this time consuming, it quickly ushers in monotony and frustration after you see your character die so many times, he should start calling himself Bill Murray of Groundhog Day.
That brings up another point. There is no character in any of the characters in Rotastic. While playing the single player campaign, you can unlock the other three characters and color variations of each, but they all play identically. None of them control any differently, and there's no special moves or abilities that would make playing one advantageous over the other. A lot more thought could have been put into this game, making the player experiment with different characters when he comes across a stage that proves to be too challenging.
Rotastic's visuals are kept rather simple due to the nature of the game. The graphics use a bright color palette that helps give off a cheery atmosphere.
The characters and levels have a slight whimsical charm to them. It's a bit humorous to see yourself launching a viking at a chicken and watching it pop like a balloon. One could even say the visuals are reminiscent of Angry Birds. Although they are sharp and animate well, the game by no means uses any of the 360's hardware power.
The game's audio is lighthearted and compliments the graphics perfectly. The music isn't anything you'll be humming to yourself, but it helps get you into the carefree spirit of flinging yourself around. There's not much in the way of sound effects. You'll hear gates open when you flip switches and glass break when your shield gets destroyed. Bouncing off walls sounds like a ball being thrown in a cardboard box, and the snap of your rope being cut could have had more pop to it. The one major thing that stands out in the audio also happens to be an annoyance, and that's the voice that constantly tells you what to do before each level. It gets even worse when you're trying 20 straight times to earn a gold helmet.
Rotastic does contain multiplayer, but it's local only. It seems almost sacrilegious to release an Xbox Live Arcade game with no online multiplayer. As it stands, the multiplayer the game does have isn't even that robust. You can select from from Easy, Medium and Hard difficulties, each presenting its own pack of screens to do battle on. Multiplayer is actually called Combat Mode, which is almost a misnomer because there's no option to play for kills. You can only battle it out for the number of jewels or points. With more thought put into the multiplayer and an online mode, Rotastic could have earned a bit more value for its buck.
At the end of the day, that buck looks quite lean. Rotastic seems much better suited towards iPads and other tablets and mobile devices wher. It asks nothing at all from the 360's visual prowess and can practically be played with one hand behind your back. It does invite the masochistic player to perfect his score in search for the coveted platinum helmets and to further climb the leaderboards. At the same time, however, it also scares off impatient and easily frustrated gamers by requiring them to earn more helmets to advance. Top it off with no online multiplayer and you have a forgettable, frustrating game that is way overpriced.