Beyond the back gate of an old castle, Duke leaves behind his fancy grand prize to continue a tour of France and now finds himself striding toward an older, more industrious district. Tasked with taking down local hostilities, he must once again seek out key cards in anticipation that one path might take him a step closer toward the heart of the city. Business as usual around these parts, but at least take some time to enjoy the sights.
Duke finds himself waltzing onto a TV Studio set and taking part in its live Game Show. The grand prize is a once in a life opportunity to stay inside a local castle and to win he must gather six keys scattered around town and bring them all back in one piece.
Intended as a branch off from ROCH3 if the episodic release ever came to fruition, ROCH’s secret level takes Duke to the sea side for an evening respite. Those alien maggots aren’t having any of it though, disrupting his ride on the bumper cars by playing a little too rough. Time to put them in their place.
In many ways ROCH3 could easily be considered a second half to its prequel as it wouldn’t feel out of place should the two levels be merged into one single experience, so much so that most of my thoughts regarding combat from ROCH2 still apply here.
The second level for the ROCH series resumes from where we were left previously, on route to a warehouse by elevator that provides access into another district of town. Here Pascal decides to considerably tone down level scale, instead creating a more focused playing field that continues ROCH1’s earlier attempts at experimenting with ideas that may or may not work out for future levels to come.
ROCH is a series spanning multiple individual releases best known for Pascal’s distinctive urban design. This personal style soon found its way to influence others within the mapping communities, imitating and adapting these inspirations into their own works. ROCH became a cornerstone point of reference for well crafted city themed levels going forward. Even so, everyone had to start somewhere in their mapping careers and despite series fame, even its premier has a few rough edges.
First part in a series, establishing itself as this massive urban playground where every progressive milestone is conquered by peeling away at individual layers that help fortify an alien infested city. Players will be working their way around the island’s outskirts, fighting through heavily guarded streets and leaping over rooftops, before towering over Woudrichem itself to contemplate their journey made to reach that point.
You take on the role of a successful writer who is struggling to complete their latest work. In an effort to regain inspiration your publisher rents out a country house to relax and write with renewed invigoration. During the long drive a hurried radio announcement talks about an unknown atmospheric phenomena reported around the area. Just after broadcasting this warning, a fierce lightning bolt strikes and causes you to swerve into the river.
It’s a late night and the Aliens have headed out to do some last minute Christmas shopping by occupying a shopping department named Queen’s Mall to grab the best deals in town all for themselves – everything is free for the taking! Duke has caught onto their plans as he usually does, loads up his pistol, slips into a pair of high heel boots and makes his way over to save the holidays one more time.
On a cold evening during the Christmas season, amidst an assortment of colourful festivities decorating the snow veiled cityscape, Duke stares upon a burning wreckage of his trusty postal van seconds before an assault from green runts dash onto the scene. Time to clean up this mess, hit the sack and be ready for an early shift tomorrow.