Boom Boom Rocket Review

Boom Boom Rocket takes its own stab at the growing rhythm game genre. But this time it’s with fireworks! A combination of Fantavision and any other rhythm game, BBR launches fireworks into the sky and players must hit the corresponding face/directional buttons to the beat. The detonation line is at the top of the screen and depending on how accurate the explosion is to the song, players are rewarded with a bonus gauge bar. Fill it up for extra points but beware. If too many flaming death-balls slip past and the gauge runs out, it’s game over.

The gameplay in BBR is simplistic but the difficulty is not. Easy is a good warm-up for familiarity, medium is hard, and hard is impossible. Fireworks begin to change speeds, multiple inputs are required, and the sheer number of rockets fills the screen.

The graphics are colorful and fun, but nothing new. The nighttime cityscape is much too dark. The fireworks need a backdrop to emphasize their magical displays, but it ends up being a drab and boring shadow.


The weakest aspect of BBR is its song list. Comprising of 10 tracks, the music is a techno twist of familiar tunes that in the end just don’t do it. After playing a song ten times in a row trying to achieve a new high-score I was losing my sanity. Not having memorable tunes that are enjoyable to play leads to a massive decline in lasting appeal.

There are a good number of game modes though. The 10 track single player campaign, a split-screen and online versus mode, leaderboards, and the ability to download content (nothing available yet) round out the package. Hopefully future downloadable tracks will be significantly improved over the current selection.

Despite the shortcomings of BBR, I do enjoy the game for what it is; a simple, challenging arcade title that you can pick-up and play to kill some time. To me, that is what Xbox Live Arcade is all about. It is NOT worth $10 however. Microsoft seriously needs to check their pricing for XBLA games. Half that price would work just fine.