Rock Of Ages 3: Make & Break Review: Rock On With Your Bad Self

In today’s world of AAA games, sometimes you want something a bit less stressful to unwind with. Perhaps you’d enjoy Modus Games’ latest creation, Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break.

This long-awaited third entry combines everything fans love about the previous two games with a fun, obstacle-ridden tower defense game. You’ll see yourself battling against friends in fully customizable online or local matches, or even against A.I if the story mode is more your thing.

So, How Is It?

Design-wise, the game is pretty similar to its predecessors. In fact, it even keeps the Monty Python-esque cinematics and humor. The single-player mode is a good place to start if you’ve not played the last two entries in the franchise; however, the tutorial is a smidge too short, and if you’re a new player, you’ll probably be left a little out of the loop when it comes to key mechanics (particularly, defending your fort with a multitude of different weapons and blockades).

The story itself is told through small sketches and sees you travel through the ages, battling a collection of historical figures in music befitting its title. As you progress through the game, you’ll earn stars depending on your performance in each level. You can then use these stars to unlock new weapons, balls, and powerups to take into future levels. Overall, it’s a good system – and the fact that you don’t lose stars when you unlock any powerups or new levels means there’s no penalty for trying out a wide range of tactics.

The main criticism I have with the game’s story mode is that the background music tends to be overly repetitive. While this isn’t a problem (especially if you’re fast-tracking your way through the campaign), if you’re anything like myself, where it takes you a good few tries to complete a level, you’ll get pretty annoyed after hearing the same short, looping song for the nth time.

Creative Mode: Where The Game Truly Comes Alive

The main attraction of Rock Of Ages 3: Make & Break is the level designer. Through it, you can create your own fully custom tracks and share them with friends and the community-at-large. Moreover, thanks to the game’s previous Open Beta, Modus Games has made sure to curate a bunch of community-made tracks. This way, you won’t be left high and dry with nothing to do if you’re purchasing the game on release day. Having played a select few of these courses, I can honestly say that they’re well made. Because you can sort through levels by their popularity, you can almost always guarantee you’ll have a good time.

Final Thoughts

If you’re looking for a fun, light-hearted game to play with friends or finding an escape from our current quarantine world, this is probably the game for you. If you’re after something more substantial or don’t have a lot of disposable income, then this probably isn’t the game for you; after all, at $29.99 (£23.99), Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break is one of the more expensive indie games on the market today. As previously stated, the story mode needs some work and might not be for everyone’s tastes. But with a solid foundation and the clear care that developers put into the game, it’s definitely worth playing.

Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break is out now on Xbox, PS4, PC, Nintendo Switch, and will be available on Google Stadia at a later date (to be determined).

A review copy was provided by the developer. Get the game.

Will you be picking the game up? What are your thoughts on it so far? Let us know on Twitter @ReplayWire and @Wolfencreek.