Available either by download from the net or in a boxed copy Shokrok Throwdown is one of the latest offerings by Dark Inertia Studios, a small studio created in 2004. It’s a game designed to appeal to sports games fans and rated for players over the age of seven. There’s violence in defending your goals, but it’s bloodless knock ‘em down and get back up kind of confrontations.
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| I’m big and blue and..erm…blue | I’m big and blue and..erm…blue |
As far as storylines there’s not much to it here. It’s a sports competition where you try to use your team effectively to gather the most shokroks and hold them for the longest period of time. There are ten 60 second turns per level and to progress to the next level you have to win the majority of them. As you advance through the levels you have the opportunity to play various races (Footbrawler, Neospartan, Varulf Sylph, Juggernaught and Weapon), each with their own advantages and disadvantages and to play each of the different positions, there are three (Shocker, Defender and Destroyer) on the team. The game consists of 25 levels worth of solo play and then has a multiplayer mode that can be hosted over the internet or a lan. Unfortunately, I couldn’t do much with the multiplayer due to not being able to find many other folks that had the game and were hosting or game to play.
The quality of the music and sound effects of Shokrock: Throwdown is likely the best thing about the game. The scores are original scores and suit the mood of the game. Even the loading music isn’t bad, and I didn’t find the sound distracting from the action at any point in the playing.
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| You’ll never see this move in a football game | The arena from above |
Unfortunately the compliments I have for the sound aspect of this game can’t be shared with the graphics or the game play. The graphics for the game are available in several resolutions and intensities, none of which were really good. I’m not playing on a top of the line gaming beast of a machine, but nor is my machine a slacker and was well within the recommendations for the game. Despite this the graphics always had a fuzzy feel to them, and in some resolutions, which I’d matched in my choices for my operating system display, the text on the screen was completely unreadable. Full screen mode was much better than windowed mode, but neither was particularly stunning. Each time I changed part of the settings the game crashed back to desktop and I had to start it all over again. I also found it disturbing that the help window wasn’t large enough for the help text, which ran off the screen, and there were typos that sometimes caused the meaning to be lost. Yeah, typos happen, but products sent to market should at least have been through a basic spell checker. The overall presentation was one of being unfinished and without the extra spit and polish that could have pushed it to being a very good game.
I found the game play of Shokrok: Throwdown less than stellar as well. Movement was often choppy, and I found myself occasionally passing through the arena walls or another combatant at random times. This is an extreme problem when part of the point of the game is to be able to throw your opponent down for a knock out to keep them away from your team’s Shocker. At a couple of points I got hit by an enemy Destroyer and pushed through the arena walls and was stuck there until I closed the game and started again. All in all this proved to be highly frustrating at best, and I admit to yelling less than flattering things at the computer screen. Instructions for movement and combat aren’t immediately obvious, and are a bit buried in the help screens. I’d definitely suggest that anyone interested in playing read through the help screens, typos and all, before starting game play.
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| Spikes make you cooler | Real men get knock down |
All in all I wasn’t overly impressed with my experience with Shokrock: Throwdown. I believe the base idea is a good one, but needed a little more time to make sure that the gameplay, graphics and stability were ready for play.
Top Game Moment:
TOP GAME MOMENT
I had one round that went just the way I wanted it to, where the true potential of the game shone and I held most of the shrocks for the majority of the round.
