A game heavily inspired by titles like Commander Keen and the original Duke Nukem, Rad Rodgers is an homage to those classic titles and brings games of that style to the modern gaming world. Also taking inspiration from an Amiga 500 title “Ruff’n’Tumble” and Jazz The Jackrabbit, Slipgate Studios has tried to bring back 90’s PC platformers. Published by THQ Nordic and 3D Realms, Rad Rodgers is available on the PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4. So, is Rad Rodgers a rad game or is it as outdated as using the word Rad in a conversation?
Rad Rodgers has you play as Rad, a young boy with a somewhat insatiable hunger for playing video games. One night he dozes off after a long gaming session only to wake up to find that his console has miraculously turned itself on and he gets sucked into it to star in his own video game. Assisting Rad is Dusty, his console who has quite the foul mouth for a videogame console. Dusty arms Rad with a couple of weapons that are varied enough to feel different in gameplay. The game features multiple levels to go through, all of which have to be exited by finding 4 pieces of a medallion scattered around the map for you to find by exploring it.
The levels have great variety and each setting feels new and unique. They are bright and vivid or, dark and murky but overall it has a very vibrant look that does a great job of capturing the aesthetic that the devs were going for. The game itslef isn’t too long as it is 5 to 6 hours long on the easy difficulty with the playtime increasing the more you increase the difficulty but I’d say that’s good because the game doesn’t get boring or repetitive, it doesn’t overstay its welcome. My only criticism of this would be the section where you play as Dusty and have to play through this maze like environment. This felt like it broke the flow of the game and I was forced to do this more often than I’d like to.
The writing is alright in the game and the game features an option between kid mode and adult mode. The latter has curse words, dirty jokes and dark humour which was surprisingly good enough. There’s no deep plot or crazy twist so don’t go in expecting a story as the main focus is on the gameplay which is enjoyable. The 2D platforming is fun, the puzzles fit in quite well with the level design and the shooting is satisfying. The game does lack any sort of mini-map or map so there are times where you will end up getting lost and will backtrack a lot since you don’t know which place you missed from exploring so keep that in mind. A map of some sort that updated as you kept exploring the level would’ve been quite a good addition
.The game does not go for a pixel based art style nor does it try to copy games like Contra but instead goes for this cartoony art style which I quite liked. The sound effects like explosions and such even pop up with the text of what noise they’re making which was a nice little addition to the game. In terms of audio it is pretty decent overall with good music and sound effects.
Rad Rodgers is a throwback to platformers of the 90’s and does a great job of highlighting the elements that made those games so much fun. It features extra “pogo stick” levels which are fun and has a lot of items for you to collect. While it has its fair share of bugs, the only major ones were the random crashes that I faced. If you’ve played games like Jazz the Jackrabbit, Commander Keen or even the classic Duke Nukem games then you should try this game out. Otherwise it might not appeal to a lot of people who didn’t grow up on these types of games. Not to mention, the game lacks any sort of multiplayer but is still fun nonetheless.
